


What Might Have Been

by VioletRoseLily



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Family, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Homeworld Hierarchy (Steven Universe), Homeworld is Horrible, Romance, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2019-09-24 08:37:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17097416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletRoseLily/pseuds/VioletRoseLily
Summary: When she reveals herself to her allies, Pink Diamond is convinced to reveal herself as Rose Quartz to all of Homeworld, swelling their ranks and giving them a better chance at winning the war. The outcome is Homeworld being destroyed and the Diamonds being defeated. Six different POVs of a happier outcome to the Crystal Gem rebellion.





	1. Welcome to Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amethyst emerges in a universe where she is loved and appreciated from the moment she pops out of her hole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone is curious, the POV chapters in order will be Amethyst, Garnet, Pink Diamond, Pearl, Rose and lastly Steven.

“Welcome to Earth, 8XM! We’ve been waiting so long to meet you!”

In another universe, Amethyst emerged in an empty kindergarten, unknowingly having barely missed being corrupted. She would spend several centuries alone, talking to rocks until she was found by the remaining members of the Crystal Gems.

However, in this universe, when Amethyst emerged from her hole, five hundred years late, she is greeted by two gems who looked like her. Well aside from the fact that they were both taller and their gems were in different places. The slightly darker-skinned Amethyst greeted her first, giving her a big hug.

“Look how small she is. Carnelian is going to love her,” the curly-haired amethyst laughed, taking her from the other amethyst and hugging her just as roughly.

“Hey put me down!” Amethyst demanded, feeling annoyed and slightly self-conscious of the fact that she was smaller than the two hulking gems.

“Sorry little sis. We’re just so excited that you’re here at last. I’m 8XL and this Curly a.k.a 8XJ,” the amethyst with the gem on her hip introduced as her fellow gem placed their smaller sister down. “Now come on, everyone is eager to meet you. Especially Pink Diamond: that’s our leader. She’s gonna love you, trust me.”

Amethyst’s brow furrowed as they picked her up again and carried her away from the Kindergarten. She knew she was made to be a solider for Pink Diamond. However, she couldn’t help but wonder if the diamond would really want a runt like her.

They arrived at a fortress and already Amethyst could see that there was something odd about it. She wasn’t even sure why it seemed wrong considering it was the only fortress she had ever seen in the hour she was alive but there was just something different about it.

Perhaps it was the organics creatures that seemed to be scattered among the road leading up to the fortress. She spotted Lapis Lazuli playing with smaller organics in a river, using her hydrokinesis to lift them in the air. A Fire Opal was sitting in a circle of organics weaving baskets, apologizing frantically when she accidentally set one on fire. A Moss Agate was sparring with an organic, sounding quite proud when it knocked the spear she held out of her hands.

Amethyst found what she seeing to be odd and yet at the same time she couldn’t help but smile at the sweetness of the scenes before her. She hadn’t realized she was still being carried until she was put down and 8XL pushed the great doors leading to the fortress open.

“Welcome to the main stronghold of the Crystal Gems, 8XM,” Curly told her, ruffling her hair as she and 8XL waited for her to walk inside before they followed behind her. “First stop is a meet and greet then a weapon upgrade and then we’ll take you to see the boss lady herself.”

“Curly and L are back!” someone shouted and the two amethysts were tackled to the ground by a blur of purple.

Amethyst grinned as she saw her fellow amethysts play wrestling. These gems were awesome. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, she jumped on top of the nearest amethyst who didn’t even seemed fazed that the newcomer had joined in, eagerly giving her a noogie as if they had known each other this entire time.

“You Amethysts are so clique-y,” a skinny orange gem drawled as she and a red gem walked up to the purple pile.

 “Yay, looks like I got another member in the shorty squad!" the red gem exclaimed jubilantly.. Amethyst guessed she was the Carnelian, her sisters had mentioned earlier.

“So I guess we got the meet and greet out of the way. Who do I talk to about upgrading this bad boy?” Amethyst asked as she pulled out her whip with quite a bit of flair, hitting a nearby, causing a branch to fall down. Her grin threatened to split her face when the gems around her applauded her little show; she definitely could get used to this.

* * *

The hours seemed to go by far to quickly before Curly and L took her to a warp pad and they wrapped away to a forge in a volcano where a rainbow haired gem was polishing a weapon before putting it among others.

“Hey Bismuth, guess who just popped out of her hole!” Curly exclaimed excitedly.

“Hmm? Oh hey Amethysts, nice to see you. What brings you to my neck of the woods or volcano as it were?” the gem laughed. It must have registered what Curly said because she grinned at Amethyst. “Ah, I take it that you decided to be fashionably late.”

“Yep, I wanted to keep you guys on your toes before making my dramatic entrance,” Amethyst joked.

“Well welcome to the Crystal Gems, Bismuth’s the name, forging weapons is my game,” Bismuth introduced herself, morphing her hammer back into a hand before extending it to shake Amethyst’s hand.

Amethyst shapeshifted into a purple Bismuth before shaking her hand, causing Bismuth to chuckle.

“Oh Rose is gonna love you for sure,” she remarked.

“Who is Rose?” Amethyst asked curiously, wondering if she was another one of her sister gems.

Bismuth glared at Curly and L. Amethyst couldn’t help but think that just moments ago the rainbow-haired gem looked like she was friendly and easygoing, now she looked as though she could easily tear someone limb from limb.

“Hey, we respect the fact that you call her Rose Quartz and you have to respect that fact that we still call her Pink Diamond,” Curly snapped. The annoyance on her face made it clear that this has been a reoccurring argument.

“I would respect it if you calling her Pink Diamond didn’t make it clear that you are still Homeworld’s stooges,” Bismuth snarled.

“Just because we are loyal to our diamond, doesn’t mean that we are stooges to Homeworld. At least you never experienced being looked at as Off-Colors simply you came from the same place the leader of the Crystal Gems was thought to be from,” L pointed out heatedly, scowling.

It looked like all the three gems were about to brawl--- and Amethyst didn’t care if Bismuth chose to not give her weapon an upgrade afterwards, she would take her sisters' side especially considering Bismuth had just insulted them. However Amethyst was really confused about the whole Pink Diamond vs Rose Quartz thing so she spoke up before any blows could be exchanged.

“Wait, is she a quartz or a diamond? Also what’s Homeworld?” Amethyst asked.

Bismuth’s expression went from murderous to calm within seconds as she glanced down at Amethyst.

“Look when you popped out of your hole, you knew you were a solider right? Well that’s how it works in Homeworld, every gem is supposed to have a purpose and a place with the Diamonds being the supreme leaders. Those who don’t fit in with the Diamonds’ version of perfection was ostracized if not flat out shattered. Originality is outlawed, no one can be anything other than what they are. Rose Quartz didn’t see it that way and she chose to start a rebellion against Homeworld. But almost a century ago, Rose Quartz revealed to us that she is actually Pink Diamond in disguise,” Bismuth explained. “And while her court and the other diamonds insist on calling her Pink Diamond, we still call her Rose Quartz, our leader but not our master.”

“Wow,” was all Amethyst could think of to say to that.

* * *

It was pretty somber after that with Bismuth simply upgrading Amethyst before sending them on their way. The three Amethysts then warped back to the fortress. They had barely gotten there when---for the third time today--- Amethyst was picked up before being bear hugged by a very tall pink gem.

“Oh my stars, you are so adorable! I’m so happy you’re finally here!” she shouted, spinning Amethyst around, nuzzling her hair. Unlike the first two times, Amethyst couldn’t help but kind of enjoy being fussed over by this gem. “Welcome to Earth. What would you like me to call you?”

“Amethyst,” Amethyst replied, realizing too late that she was supposed to come up with a nickname to differentiate herself from her sisters.

“Hmm, well that’s a bit tricky but I’ll make it work,” the pink gem remarked, smiling lovingly down at purple gem. “So tell me, Amethyst, what would you like to be?”

Oh. So this was Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz. She was a lot less pink then Amethyst had been expecting and she was wearing a white dress instead of wearings clothes that matched her name and color of her gem. Amethyst had also expected the gem on Pink/Rose’s belly to be a diamond instead of a quartz but then again, it would be pretty hard to fool everyone if it always looked like a diamond.

The purple gem realized that pink gem and her two companions were waiting for her answer.

“Um, I don’t know. Do I have to decide right now?” Amethyst asked, feeling embarrassed and self-conscious.

“No, you don’t. Isn’t that wonderful!” Pink/Rose exclaimed, beaming as she hugged Amethyst tighter.

* * *

A century passed and Amethyst found herself, splitting her time with fellow kindergarteners and Rose (that’s what she liked being called even when she wore Pink Diamond’s form). She along with a fusion named Garnet and Pearl were Rose’s closest companion.

Even though Rose was kind and friendly to all her gems, everyone knew that she preferred the company of her former Pearl (who apparently had been the one who came up with the quartz disguise in the first place) and Garnet who was the first Crystal Gem ever recruited.

So it was surprising that Amethyst had been welcomed into that close-knit group especially when one of her favorite activities was messing with Pearl.

It didn’t occur to Amethyst that Rose was treating her special until the day Buffy came back to Earth.

“According to Yellow, she was the only good gem that came out of my kindergartens, the ultimate quartz,” Rose explained in the same disdainful tone she often used when she was talking about one of her fellow diamonds no matter the context was. “Unfortunately because of this, Jasper is well…”

“A brute,” Pearl suggested coldly.

“Overeager to crush the rebellion and all off-colors,” Garnet supplied at the same time, although her tone was more stoic.

“However, when I showed my court that I was Pink Diamond, Jasper swore her loyalty to me, saying she’d rather be shattered then to ever fight against me,” Rose continued as though neither Pearl nor Garnet had spoken. “But because her former views on defective gems are so well known, it was easy for her, and a few others, to act as double agents on Homeworld, spreading the message that Earth is a safe haven for gems who wish to be free, even giving them safe passage.”

“We are freeing gems right under the diamonds’ upturned noses,” Garnet quipped, grinning vindictively.

“Oh please, Blue, Yellow and White are so willfully blind that they are convinced that I’m just playing a game and I will get bored eventually and everything can go back to the way it was,” Rose growled, scowling darkly.

Amethyst noted that Garnet looked rather guilty and sad at that statement but before she could comment, the giant green hand ship landed in front of the three gems and Garnet’s expression morphed into an expressionless mask. On the other side of Rose, Pearl stiffened and gripped her spear tighter as a bulky orange gem stepped off the ship and leapt towards Rose, kneeling in front of her.

“Jasper, please, I’ve asked you not to bow,” Rose reminded her gently with an undertone of exasperation, grasping her shoulder and lifting her back up before hugging her. “It’s good to see you safe and sound.”

“I’m sorry, my---Pink, old habits die hard,” Jasper said, not even glancing at the other three gems. When she finally did, a look of disgust appeared on her face and her eyes narrowed when her gaze fell on Amethyst. “I see the runt has arrived.”

“Who are you calling a runt, Buffy?” Amethyst demanded, her hands curled up into fists.

“Did you come for a reason or are you just here to remind everyone of what an oafish lackey you are?” Pearl asked.

Amethyst can’t help but beam at Pearl with delight. Usually the uptight gem scolded her when she was rude or irresponsible but for some reason it seemed that Jasper brought out a rather vindictive side from her.

“Like you are one to talk,” Jasper snarled. “I don’t know why you pretend that you are anything but----”

“DON’T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE!” Rose roared, towering over Jasper, fury on her face, sending the orange gem back on her knees. “If you are just here to insult my friends, you are not welcome.”

Jasper looked like a baby animal who had just been kicked by it's owner.

“I’m sorry, I was just bringing a couple of defec---fugitives to Earth. Yellow Diamond thinks I’m trying to convince you to return to Homeworld so I thought I could stay here for a few days if you would like that,” Jasper said rather meekly. Amethyst couldn’t help but snort and she only smirked when the orange gem shot her a dark glare.

“You may stay if you behave,” Rose told her sternly, changing her form back into her Rose Quartz look either to make a point to Jasper or because she didn’t want a repeat of when a Morganite brought her Ruby and Pearl to Earth and they assumed that they were going to be shattered for fusing into Rhodonite.

Apparently while Pearl, Amethyst and Rose were talking to Jasper, Garnet had gone to fetch the newcomers (no doubt having spotted them with her future vision). She reappeared at the entrance of the ship, leading three gems outside, an excited smile on her face, the same one she had when she had met Rhodonite.

“Whoa!” Amethyst exclaimed when she saw the huge blue gem. She was a six-gem fusion, no wonder Garnet looked so happy.

“Are you holding your squee back?” Pearl stage-whispered.

“It’s really really hard,” Rose complained, biting her lip as she tried to keep her composure. “I can’t decide which one I want to hug----is that a Padparadscha Sapphire?! I thought Blue said that they weren't supposed to exist---oh.” The scowl was back on her face as she realized what her sister diamond had meant. However once Garnet had led the Padparadscha, the two headed Rutile and the caterpillar like fusion, Rose smiled again, her hands clasped together as she welcomed them to Earth.

* * *

 “I don’t think Buffy likes me,” Amethyst informed her sisters as they sat watching a bunch of humans banging of their drums. Some of their fellow Earth-created gems were dancing with the humans.

“Buffy is just grumpy. She can be nice sometimes---well nice for her anyway,” Carnelian said.

“Nope, there is just something about the way she looks at me like she hates me for even being born,” Amethyst remarked.

“If it was anything like how she looks at G-squad and Renegade, I think it might have something to with you being Pink’s favorite,” Ice stated casually.

“What? I’m not Rose’s favorite,” Amethyst spluttered, surprised that anyone would think that.

“Of course you are her favorite. You weren’t around when she started the rebellion so you are basically a clean slate. You even asked her what she wanted to be called without treating her like she was your superior. Not to mention when she asks you a question, you never asked to speak freely,” Curly pointed out, matter of factly.

“I heard Bismuth say you were free of Homeworld’s taint,” L muttered, letting out a sardonic chuckle.

“It’s not that Pink likes any of us less than you but I dunno, it’s just different,” Moony remarked, shrugging her shoulders.

“If it helps, Buffy might mind but we don’t,” Carnelian assured her before punching her shoulder playfully. “However, don’t you dare get a swelled head.”

“Oh you mean like yours?” Amethyst joked, punching her back.

Minutes later, Amethyst was in the middle of a dog pile of her wrestling sisters. After they had caused enough ruckus to become the entertainment of the night, the humans finally decided to return to their huts for the night and the gems decided to go back to their fortress.

Before she could follow them, Amethyst saw the Lapis Lazuli who seemed to enjoy spending more time with humans than gems flying down to the group of huts, carrying a child in her arms.

A woman ran out of her hut, looking relived. She plucked the child from Lapis’ arms.

“Mom!” the child shouted delightedly as his or her (it was so hard to tell at that age) mother spun them around and nuzzled their hair.

Watching that scene reminded Amethyst of how Rose had reacted when they had first met. She didn’t know why it made her smile or why her eyes were suddenly misty.

* * *

When Pink Diamond defected from Homeworld, Blue and Yellow had been aghast and tried to change her mind but they had mostly left her alone. They had even ordered the troops back home, hoping that this would blow over and Pink would come to her senses eventually.

After almost a thousand years of sending gem after gem to convince Pink to change her mind (unknowingly giving Pink’s agents opportunities to sneak gems off of Homeworld), the diamonds were done with asking nicely and they were fully prepared to go to war against the Crystal Gems.

According to Jasper, Blue and Yellow’s combined army dwarfed the army of the Crystal Gems.

“We’re doomed!” an Aquamarine proclaimed.

“No, we’re not!” Rose insisted. “We’ve faced such odds before and we can do it again!”

“If I might make a suggestion, I’ve been training the humans and those clods certainly won’t be prepared to defend themselves against organics,” Mossy pointed out, sounding proud.

“You want to send fragile humans into a battle that has nothing to do with them!” Lapis shouted, outraged by the very thought.

“They live on Earth too,” a Ruby with her gem on her eye pointed out. “Might as well make some use out of those useless organics.”

Nearly half of the Crystal Gems glared at the red gem for that comment.

“Enough! The humans are too fragile to be near a battle let alone fight it. Maybe one day they will be advanced enough to have armor to protect them but for now this is our battle and we will defeat Homeworld!” Rose declared.

“How? With our tactics of only poofing gems and the fact that we can’t grow new gems, they will eventually have us outmatched,” a Morganite pointed out. “The Diamonds won’t change their minds and they won’t stop until each and every one of us has been shattered.”

Every gem in the room shivered at that thought.

“Not unless we shatter the diamonds,” Bismuth suggested, locking eyes with Rose as she climbed the platform to direct her words to the gems below. “Think about it. If we shattered the diamonds, every Homeworld gem would be free.”

“If someone shattered my diamond, I wouldn’t care that I was freed. I would spend the rest of my days trying to shatter the gem responsible,” Jasper growled.

Pearl threw Bismuth a rather dirty look, muttering under breath something about irony.

“Bismuth, we’ve had this discussion before and let me tell you while I would have stood still and let you use Breaking Point on me, my sisters might not be so willing especially if they see you coming,” Rose said calmly. “Look, I understand everyone’s concerns and I promise I will figure out away to shut down Homeworld for good. However, I would like to remind you all, that Homeworld Gems are born believing that they have no other purpose then to serve their diamonds and I do not want to shatter them for something they can’t control. That is Homeworld’s way, not mine.”

“I would rather be shattered fighting for what I believed in, rather than being stuck on Homeworld, forced to be nothing more than an object!” Pearl declared, stepping in front of Rose. “This isn’t just about defeating Homeworld, this is about proving that despite what they think, I am strong! I am fierce! I am not just a pearl! They look down on us then we’ll just show them what we are made of!”

This caused the Crystal Gems to break out in cheers.

“Wow, Pearl really is a badass,” Amethyst said in surprise. She had always thought that those stories about the Renegade Pearl were exaggerated as they didn’t match with the uptight and anxious gem she interacted with.

But now she could see the fire in Pearl’s eyes and hear the determination in her voice and it thrilled her.

Later, when she would see Pearl training a bunch of fugitive pearls how to fight, she would decide that while the pale gem was indeed a badass, she was also a dork.

She still would be proud to follow her into battle.

* * *

It took another thousand years for the battle against Homeworld to finally end but unfortunately Amethyst wasn’t around to see it end.

She was there in the beginning fighting against Yellow and Blue’s troops while Rose and Pearl launched a surprise attack on the remaining gems on Homeworld.

She and Jasper were fighting two agates back to back when they spotted a Morganite fighting beating two pearls so brutally, Amethyst guessed that she would shatter them once they poofed.

“Hey Buffy, jump!” Amethyst hissed as she caught the electric whip and swung the agate around so hard that when she slammed into the other agate, they both were electrified and poofed.

“Nice job, Runt, need a lift?” Jasper asked, already picking Amethyst up.

“Aw yeah! Let me rip!” Amethyst shouted as she turned into a spiked mace.

Jasper grinned and threw her at the Morganite, knocking the gem off of a cliff

Unfortunately, Amethyst hit a rock on the way down, cracking her gem just minutes before the Morganite poofed her.

When she reformed, she found herself a burning room with Rose crying over her and considering she was still crying despite having already healed the purple gem, Amethyst guessed that something big had happened.

“It’s over, Amethyst, it’s finally over,” Rose sobbed as she held Amethyst. “The Diamond Authority is gone. They’re gone.”

Amethyst had no idea what to say as the pink gem rocked her back and forth. Whatever happened, it was clear that Rose was both happy and devastated by the outcome.

* * *

Now that the war was finally over and all three diamonds were defeated, the Crystal Gems disbanded. Some decided to travel through space, going to the gem controlled colonies on other world to spread the news of the diamonds’ defeat or to find a way to make more gems that would not destroy organic life.

Others decided to stay on Earth, make a comfortable life there, interacting with humans or just finding uninhabited places to build gem cities.

The groups that left weren’t strictly made up of their own gems (even Pearl’s group seemed to have a few lower-class gems and one perfusion) so Amethyst had to say goodbye to some of her sisters.

“Take care of her,” Garnet whispered as she said her goodbyes, wanting to spend a couple of hundreds of years as just Ruby and Sapphire.

“I’ll be back every once in a while, try not to get into too much trouble,” Pearl commanded, giving Amethyst a fond smile and then an affectionate pat on her head before she walked away linking arms with a pearl with a cracked face and a blue pearl who was holding a yellow pearl’s hand.

“We have a warp pad,” Jasper pointed out gruffly as her group of sisters refused to stop hugging their little sister. “We can visit her any time we want.”

“Aw, Buffy, you do care,” Amethyst teased the orange gem.

“I was talking about Pink, not you, Runt,” Jasper growled but without any malice in her voice.

“Love you too, sis,” Amethyst laughed.

Soon it was only her and Rose sitting on the beach.

“Why didn’t you go with them?” Rose asked as they watched the waves.

“I thought you might get lonely with everyone leaving,” Amethyst admitted.

“Oh Amethyst, you don’t have to stay for me,” Rose murmured, ruffling her hair. “I would have been fine. Besides if I get too lonely I can also play with the humans. I want you to do whatever you want to do.”

“I want to stay here with you. Is that okay?”

“Of course it is,” Rose breathed, pulling the purple gem into a bear hug. “I love you, Amethyst.”

“I love you too, Mom,” Amethyst joked. Or at least she thought it was a joke, the cry of delight coming from Rose’s lips and the happy tears falling into her hair told her just how happy Rose is at being called that human term.

* * *

She doesn’t call Rose Mom again for nearly two thousand years.

(Although there have been a few human lovers that she has freaked out by asking if they were her new daddy or if they were female that in gem culture, it was common for offspring to have a duel to the death with the members of her mother’s harem. Both she and Rose agreed that if a human couldn’t handle Amethyst joking than there was no way they would have stuck around for the Crystal Gems who would be eager to find out if they were worthy to court their leader.)

Human lovers came and went. Sometimes they spent their short lifetime with Rose, sometimes it was only a few years. But never did any of them seem to gain the type of relationship Rose had with Greg.

Greg Universe was different. First all, he had introduced Amethyst to Vidalia and the purple gem liked Vidalia enough to give Greg points for that. Secondly, he took Amethyst’s jokes in stride and even had bounded with her (if Jasper tried to arm wrestle him like she did with that Viking guy, Amethyst would go ahead and arm wrestle on his behalf). Thirdly, he treated Rose like an equal and Amethyst had hung around Rose enough to know how important that was to her.

To Greg, Rose wasn’t an unattainable goddess to be revered and worshiped, she wasn’t a leader to obey without complaint, she was a flawed beautiful tall gem he was in love with.

But then everything changed and Amethyst didn’t like Greg anymore.

“How can you do this! Don’t you know how devastated everyone will be!” Amethyst demanded. She doesn’t include herself in that statement but she didn’t have to. Then again she also didn’t need to point out that everyone would be devastated.

While the majority of gems would be sad to lose their leader and liberator, Rose had to know how badly this would affect three gems in particular.

While Jasper and Pearl had spent years trying to shake off their strong urges to treat Rose as Pink Diamond, they both loved her (maybe not in the platonic way for Jasper, definitely not platonic for Pearl) and Amethyst didn’t want to image just how quickly they would fall apart if Rose was gone.

“Amethyst, listen to me. I’m only talking about worst case scenario. I have talked it over with Magnesites and Peridots and they think they can find a way for me to have this baby without giving up my gem,” Rose told her gently, trying to stroke Amethyst’s hair only for Amethyst to recoil as though she thought she was about to be hit instead of caressed.

“But if none of them work, you’re still planning on giving up your gem for Greg’s stupid baby!” Amethyst accused her, angry that Rose could be so selfish. She tried to stop the angry tears that were leaking from her eyes. This time Rose wrapped her arms around Amethyst and hugged her close. All of her anger just seemed to bleed out of the purple gem as she buried her face into Rose’s shoulder. “Please don’t leave me, Mom.”

“I will do everything I can to not leave you, my perfect little Amethyst,” Rose whispered, nuzzling her hair.

* * *

After that, Amethyst called Rose Mom. Everyone else either used Pink or Rose but she was the only one who got to call her mom…until four years later when a certain curly-haired toddler started talking but Steven was a special case.

She would not admit this to anyone but she kind of liked it when Steven would introduce her as his sister or when, despite being thousands of years younger than her, Greg would say she was his daughter.

Just when she thought her life could not get better, she found out that new gems could finally be created on Earth without completely destroying the life around it.

“Technically, we still needed to suck up some of the minerals from the ground but the effect will not be permanent,” Peridot chattered excitedly. “It’s so fascinating what we have come up with. Of course it was all my idea but it was a group effort so they should get some praise.”

Peridot had been sent to Earth with a group of older Peridots decades ago to start building the new Earth kindergarten. Now that Carnie was off in space, Amethyst had wanted a new member of the shorty squad so she chose the little Peridot who made up for her size with durability, magnetic powers and a humongous ego.

Connie, eager to be the human who witnessed the birth of new gems, was dutifully writing down notes as Peridot spoke. Steven and Amethyst were to busy looking around curiously at the new kindergarten.

“The machines look less freaky than the ones in my kindergarten and it’s not as dusty,” Amethyst observed.

“I thought your kindergarten looked nice,” Steven said politely, ignoring the doubtful look Amethyst shot him.

“Steven, Connie, don’t get to close to the machines. I don’t want you two to get hurt,” Pearl fussed, glancing around the kindergarten, just in case there was something dangerous lurking around the corner.

“Steven can make a bubble, Pearl, I think he’ll be fine,” Amethyst pointed out, rolling her eyes.

“Easy babe, they’ll be fine,” Pearl’s girlfriend said, seeing that the pale gem was about to retort.

“The first gem is about to come out,” Garnet predicted, standing next to Connie and easily deflecting some stray rocks that fell down as gems started to emerge from their holes.

Steven excitedly leapt upwards to meet the first gem who emerged and hugged her as he exclaimed:

“Welcome to Earth!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can anyone guess what the "nail" is? I've left some clues, I was wondering if anyone has figured out what prompted Pink to reveal herself as Rose Quartz.  
> Also speaking of clues, I didn't want to write everything in the first chapter, which is why Amethyst isn't around during the battle and I've left some important things out. They will be shown in later chapter. Gotta keep some mystery.  
> I hope you guys enjoyed the cameos. Basically whatever gem was in procession of Lapis' mirror defected and so Lapis was freed early, although she still prefers human children to the Crystal Gems.  
> My headcanon is that Rhodonite's Morgonite helped her escape hence why she brought Rhodnotite to Earth.  
> I apologize for the instances where Amethyst used words like dork and badass. I really tried but it's hard to write Amethyst without including modern slang.  
> Anyhow, I would like to read your thoughts on characters.


	2. A Story to Tell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are many stories to tell. Some good and some not so good.

Garnet had always trusted Rose Quartz. She had no reason to suspect that her leader was hiding a dark secret; she had no reason to use her future vision to look into Rose , trusting her completely. So the permafusion was blindsided that fateful day when Rose asked to speak to her in private.

 

From the minute she stepped into the war tent, Garnet knew something was wrong. Pearl was angry, glaring at Bismuth who looked rather uncomfortable. Rose’s expression was a mixture of guilt and fear.

 

“Garnet, you were the first Crystal Gem Pearl and I ever recruited and that’s why you’ll be the first gem I will tell the truth to,” Rose said softly, unable to even look at the fusion in any of her eyes.

 

“The truth,” Garnet repeated curiously, glancing at the three gems in turn, trying to discern from their expressions what was going on.

 

“The truth about who I was,” Rose informed her before she began to change her form and then to Garnet’s horror, Pink Diamond was standing in the war tent.

 

Sapphire was blindsided. Ruby reacted predictably. Instantly Garnet’s gauntlets were on her hands and she was about to punch Pink Diamond when Pearl jumped in-between them, her sword out, ready to defend her---oh stars.

 

“Pearl, you…knew about this,” Garnet said, betrayal coloring her harsh tone. “Was this whole rebellion just a sick game to you two?!”  
  
  
The pale gem looked surprised at her outburst, perhaps expecting a different accusation.  She swallowed before speaking, her voice firm and clear. “Rose is Rose and I am a pearl who doesn’t belong to anyone. We are Crystal Gems.”

 

Garnet doesn’t even need future vision to know it was not that simple. However, she powered down with a sharp nod of her head, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited for Rose to tell her the full story.

 

“…but everything changed when we found you or rather when you found us,” Rose finished, studying the maroon gem’s expression worriedly.

 

“I see,” Garnet remarked, studying Bismuth who was oddly quiet. She wondered why Bismuth had shown no reaction to the whole Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond thing or why she seemed to be feeling guilty.  

 

“Anyway, Bismuth believes that I should be using my diamond status to make a point to Homeworld that one of their own leaders doesn’t agree with their ideals,” Rose continued. “Pearl agrees with her but I’m still unsure.”

 

“I think that at the very least the Pink court will follow Rose out of loyalty to their diamond and we can work on convincing them to believe our ideals afterwards,” Pearl explained.

 

“It happened before,” Rose murmured sweetly, giving Pearl a fond look.  

 

Bismuth scowled but said nothing. Garnet was starting to think that there was a bit more of the story to be told. After all, while Rose had explained how she and Pearl had started the Crystal Gems simply as a way to scare Homeworld off of Earth before Ruby and Sapphire had fused and changed their outlook on what they should be fighting for, she had not mentioned how Bismuth had stumbled onto the truth and why Pearl looked so angry at her.

 

“I concur with both Bismuth and Pearl. The Crystal Gems at the very least deserve to be told the truth, Rose, even if you don’t see yourself as Pink Diamond anymore. Furthermore, we need more troops and I know that your court will follow your orders no matter what they think of the Crystal Gems or Earth itself,” Garnet remarked, already combing through the possibilities of the future.  
  
  
“But I don’t want them to just follow their diamond’s orders especially when it could get them shattered,” Rose protested. “I want them to fight with me because they want to not because they have to.”

 

Garnet sighed, feeling a measure of pity for Rose. The Ruby part of her still struggled to believe that she was her own gem and was fighting with Sapphire instead of merely being her bodyguard.

 

It would be easy for gems to write off anyone joining the Crystal Gems as simply following the orders of their diamond. However, until they won the rebellion against Homeworld, their freedom was not assured.

 

“I understood why you would feel that way but most of your gems are too loyal to Pink Diamond to even consider fighting for Rose Quartz even if they did agree with her ideology,” Garnet pointed out. “It will take time for them to understand that they don’t have to be what Homeworld tells them to be but at least if they are on our side, we have a chance to show them.”

 

Garnet stiffened when Pink Diamond rushed forward and threw her arms around her, hugging her tightly. It was a bit galling to be hugged by a diamond even if she knew that this diamond was not her enemy. She relaxed a few minutes later and hugged the tall gem back.

 

“You are wonderful,” Rose murmured.

 

Suddenly something occurred to the maroon gem. “You do realize that if Ruby hadn’t intervened, you and Pearl would have been caught before our rebellion could even get started,” Garnet commented, feeling a rush of relief and love for that impulsive side of her.

 

“And yet another reason to be happy that my favorite couple fused,” Rose giggled, causing Garnet to blush bashfully.

* * *

The rest of the Crystal Gems took the reveal of the truth better than Garnet had. Moss Agate actually joked that she was glad that she wasn’t the only gem made to terrify in their ranks. Then Biggs asked if they should call her Rose Diamond or Pink Quartz and it was rather easy from there. After all, these gems were free whether they were fighting under the leadership of Rose or Pink and it didn’t seem to bother them that their leader had lied to them.

 

A day later, Ruby and Sapphire had unfused for the first time since they fused. They along with Pearl were going to the Human Zoo in hopes of shutting it down and freeing the humans and the real Rose Quartzs that were bubbled unfairly, before the other three diamonds learned of Pink’s betrayal.

 

“What do you think of me?” Pearl asked as she piloted the ship towards the zoo.

 

“I was thinking about how beautiful Sapphire is actually,” Ruby replied, causing her lover to giggle.

 

“Oh Ruby, you are so sweet and gorgeous but I think Pearl meant what do we think of her in general,” Sapphire explained, giving Ruby a kiss before she turned back to Pearl. “We think you are a renegade pearl and although we wish you told us the truth, we understand why you didn’t.”

 

“I don’t belong to anyone,” Pearl proclaimed firmly. “I know I used to belong to Pink Diamond but I don’t anymore because I am a free gem. Furthermore just so you know I’m in love with Rose Quartz not Pink Diamond.”  
  
  
“Are you telling this to us or someone else?” Ruby inquired, an eyebrow raised. Sapphire smiled, thinking that as literal-minded as she was, the red gem was still perceptive enough to see the small things.

 

“Let’s just say there have been some gems who have assumed that I’m only free because Rose told me to be free,” Pearl replied with a frown, clenching her fists. Never had she looked so agitated.

 

“They just don’t get what it’s like being gems like us,” Ruby began softly. “There are thousands of gems like us and for us to even realize we matter as an individual is a big step for us.”

  
There were times when Sapphire loved her wonderful spontaneous Ruby and there were times when she just could not begin to describe just how much she adored her.

 

“If it helps in anyway, Pearl, you are the reason why we still trust Rose. She might have started this rebellion but it was clear that you are the one who inspired her,” Sapphire remarked.

 

“Actually the gems who inspired Rose were a Ruby and Sapphire who fused,” Pearl pointed out, giving them both a small smile. “It wasn’t until you two, did we start fighting for gems instead of just to save the Earth.”  
  
  
“And we would never have fused if it weren’t for the terrifying renegade Pearl,” Ruby said with a grin, causing Pearl to start blushing blue.

 

“Oh I was quite terrifying, wasn’t I?” Pearl agreed, smirking.

 

“Of course you were.” 

 

“Thank you for the pep talk, I needed it,” the pale gem told them gratefully.

 

“Well we are Garnet and she’s pretty good at that,” Ruby quipped. “She must get that from Sapphy.”  
  
“Oh please, you just were so wise a minute ago. Obviously Garnet is both of our wisdom combined just like everything else about us,” Sapphire murmured, kissing Ruby’s lips causing the gem to blush.

 

“Behave you two, we have a mission to complete,” Pearl told them as she landed their ship on the docking deck of the human zoo.

 

“Your Clarity, you honor us with your presence. What may I do for you?” Holly Blue Agate asked. She didn’t seem to be the slightest bit curious why a Sapphire would be visiting the Human Zoo with only one Ruby guard and a Pearl.

 

“Blue Diamond sent me, she wishes to be sure that the zoo is in good condition when she visits next,” Sapphire lied. In times like this, Garnet’s future vision would come in handy because right now all she could see was Holly Blue Agate seeing through their lies and having the Amethysts attack them. Of course judging by the ice creeping up her dress that could just be nerves. Behind her, Ruby took her hand, instantly soothing her anxieties.

 

“Oh? She was here only a few months ago,” Holly Blue remarked, sounding confused. She did not seem to notice Pearl circling around her and reaching into her gem. Instead the Agate’s expression turned from confusion to apprehension. “Not that it matters of course. I am just surprised that she would waste her valuable time on these disgusting organics. Not that I would ever criticize her decisions. We are honored by her arrival whenever she chooses to grace us with her presence. I hope you will tell her how happy I am that she is choosing to visit again.”

 

It took all of Sapphire’s self-control not to laugh scornfully. 

 

“Of course I will but first I have a message from Pink Diamond,” Sapphire told her sweetly as Pearl pulled out a sword.

 

“And what would that be?”  
  
  
“She is Rose Quartz and the Zoo is now under the rebellion’s control,” Sapphire replied, her voice now hard as ice. 

 

Holly Blue Agate blinked, looking completely flabbergasted as Sapphire and Ruby fused back into Garnet just as Pearl stabbed the blue gem, poofing her before she could say another word.

 

“I must admit that was rather fun,” Garnet remarked as she bubbled the blue gem, sending it back to the rebel base. 

 

“Is it true?” the Amethyst solider asked from where she and a few other Quartz were standing, looking more curious than horrified that their boss had just been poofed by rebels. “Is Pink Diamond really Rose Quartz?”  
  
  
“I knew she seemed too nice to be a Diamond,” another Amethyst remarked.  
  
  
“No I think it’s the other way around. Pink Diamond pretended to be Rose Quartz,” a Jasper corrected, looking at Garnet and Pearl for confirmation.

 

“How do we know that this isn’t some sort of trick to get us to be traitors to our Diamond?” a Amethyst asked, her eyes narrowed.

 

“Because it makes too much sense,” the lone Carnelian replied. “I mean come on, both Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond love organics and are the only gems who don’t view us as defective.”

 

“In that case, Holly Blue’s in trouble.”

 

“Now it would be worth going to Earth just to see the look on Holy Blue’s face when we tell Pink Diamond how she’s been treating us.”

Laughter rippled through the crowd of Earth gems and they moved aside for Pearl and Garnet as they went to the control room to fly the entire station back to Earth where the humans would be freed and the Crystal Gems would get not only new recruits but also ships and destabilizers.

* * *

When they reached Earth, the small group of Quartzes led the humans out of the zoo, bringing them to a nearby village, hoping the other organics could help the newly freed captives return to their normal lives. 

 

 Rose was not back from informing her court so Pearl and Garnet unbubbled the real Rose Quartzes while they waited.

 

“How did everyone miss the fact that Rose’s gem looked different to the real Rose Quartz’s gems?” Garnet wondered as she picked one up to examine it.

 

“The same reason why no one ever noticed that Pink Diamond’s pearl looked similar to Rose Quartz’s second-in-command,” Pearl replied. “Some gems are just blind to the truth even when it’s right in front of them.”  
  
  
Garnet frowned. She was still not happy with the fact that Rose had lied about everything although she had accepted that it was better not to dwell on the past and continue looking towards the future.

 

If she were to be honest, her trust and faith in Rose had been shaken however this would not stop her from believing that Rose and Pink were the key to turning the tides against Homeworld, assuring their victory.

 

“Can Rose Quartz’s actually heal or is that just a Pink Diamond power?” Garnet wondered as they waited for the Rose Quartzes to reform.

 

“As far as I know all Rose Quartzes can heal as they were made to warrior medics but only Rose, our Rose, can grow organic life,” Pearl answered.  

 

Garnet and Pearl stiffened when they heard the bushes rustling and Pink Diamond stepped out of the forest.

 

“Ugh, I hate that I still have to wear this outfit,” she grumbled as she walked up to them. “I’m glad to see that the mission was a success. Are my gems bringing the humans back to their homes?”

“They are,” Pearl answered, a small smile on her face. “They seem to have taken the reveal pretty well especially when they realized how much trouble Holly Blue Agate will be in when you hear how they’ve been treated.”  
  
“It’s a pity I have a no shattering rule, I would love to break it for her,” Rose growled scowling darkly. She looked exactly like a diamond and in that moment, Garnet couldn’t help but feel as though she was in the presence of an enemy instead of her leader and friend.

“You would think that, wouldn’t you?” she snapped, her eyes shooting daggers at Pink Diamond. “Tell me did you ever try to stop our friends being shattered or like these Rose Quartzes, did you just see them as scapegoats to be used to keep your secret?”  
  
  
“Yellow and Blue wanted all of these Rose Quartzes to be shattered. Believe me, I didn’t want to bubble them but it was the only way to save their lives,” Rose explained, looking truly regretful. “Besides how many times did our captured friends escape? Who do you think arranged for them to escape? It’s just sometimes, I wasn’t fast enough. But I did try and now I’ll try even harder to win this war. All I ask is that you give me a chance to prove myself.”  
  
  
“I am giving you a chance, I’m just…” Garnet trailed off, unwilling to admit that she couldn’t get past her own grudge against the diamonds.

 

Rose placed a hand on Garnet’s shoulder. “I know it will take some time for you to trust me and I understand.”

 

They fell into an uneasy silence----what was taking those Rose Quartz so long to reform---that was only broken when Pearl cleared her throat.    
  
  
“Ahem, so uh, how did the rest of your court take it?” Pearl asked, looking rather uncomfortable.

 

“Surprisingly well. Better than I thought they would. When I asked if anyone wanted to return to Homeworld and find places in Blue or Yellow’s court, they all said no. Jasper was perhaps the biggest surprise,” Rose recalled, not even needing to elaborate on which jasper she was talking about. “She said she would rather shatter herself than fight against me. Hopefully, eventually she will let go of her prejudices after spending some time on Earth.” 

 

Finally the Rose Quartzes started to reform until the clearing was crowded by nearly a hundred of pink gems. Garnet noted that their appearance was less human than Pink’s Rose identity was: yet another clue that no one picked up on.

 

“My diamond!” one of them cried dropping to her knees. “We swear we aren’t the traitorous quartz! We are loyal members of your court!” The others followed suit, making the diamond salute as they did so.

 

Pink’s expression was filled with guilt as she stared at her gems: the gems who had done nothing wrong and were punished all the same.

 

“I know you’re not the leader of the rebellion because I am,” Pink admitted as she changed her form into Rose. The group of Rose Quartzes stared at their diamond in shock and horror.

 

“Is this a trick? Are you testing us?” a Rose Quartz with her gem on her arm demanded before covered her mouth with her hands. “Forgive me, my diamond, I did not mean to shout.”

“No, it’s all right,” Rose hastened to assure them. “You have every right to be angry with me. I let you take the fall for my actions. That was wrong of me and I’m so very and truly sorry that I hurt you.”

 

The Rose Quartz still look uneasy and slightly frightened. Garnet doesn’t blame them. For all they know, this is some sort of test by Homeworld and if they failed it, they would be shattered. But what could they do? They knew that if they are wrong and they went to Homeworld, no gem would ever trust them even if they were accepted into either Yellow or Blue Diamond’s court instead of simply being shattered immediately. 

 

Rose doesn’t order them to follow her but to them there wasn't another viable option and from the sorrowful expression on Rose’s face, she was painfully aware of that fact.

 

Garnet still had mixed feelings over the whole Pink Diamond thing but she at least could understand why Rose might feel like being a diamond leading a rebellion made it a bit hard to say that gems were actually free.

 

Especially when gems like Jasper---"the ultimate quartz"--- still had trouble grasping the concept.

* * *

 

 

“You dare insult my diamond’s presence with that shameful display,” Jasper snarled, the minute she saw Garnet at Rose’s side.

 

“Jasper,” Rose warned, a frown on her face. “We talked about this. I accept all gems including crossfusions and permafusions.”  
  
  
“Yes, my Diamond,” Jasper said, her lips still twitching in disgust.

 

“And this is why I don’t think she’ll be up for the task, Rose,” Pearl remarked, smirking slightly. “It would probably be best to use gems with more loyalty to you than a gem whose stance on off-colors and rebels is well known.”  
  
  
Jasper looked murderous but surprisingly she did nothing, perhaps suspecting that if she attacked or insulted Pearl, she would be scolded.  

 

“Actually, Pearl, that's exactly why I’m sending Jasper and a few others who share her views and yet swore their loyalty to me. I have no doubt that there are off-color gems hiding on Homeworld and who knows perhaps there are some gems who sympathize with our ideals but have no way of getting to Earth safely. In a few days, I’m going to make an announcement that will be broadcasted all throughout Homeworld and their colonies, declaring Earth a sanctuary for all gems who wish to be free from their oppressors,” Rose explained. “But those who can not flee will need help getting off Homeworld and that’s where I hope you’ll help me, Jasper.”  
  
  
“You know I would do anything for you, my diamond,” Jasper told her before adding. “Whether you are Pink Diamond or Rose Quartz, your wish is my command.”  
  
  
“I suppose that’s a start,” Rose muttered under her breath before dismissing Jasper and turning to Garnet and Pearl, her eyes dancing mischievously. “I’m sorry that I didn’t discuss my plan with the two of you first but I figured if I am going to out myself as the leader of the Crystal Gems, I might as well do it in a big way.”

* * *

Rose waited until her spies had left for Homeworld before asking a Peridot to hack into every gem communication source so all gems could see it not just the ones on Homeworld.

 

“We will start broadcasting in a few minutes, my diamond,” the Peridot told her.

 

“Please either call me Rose or Pink,” Rose pleaded before looking at the gems gathered in her ship. “All right, we need to make a point which means Garnet and Pearl I need you two to stand beside me while Moss and Biggs, you two stand directly behind them. Eyeball, would you mind standing on Ivy’s shoulder?”  
  
  
“Of course not, my---Pink,” the ruby told her as the amethyst picked her up and held her on their shoulder.

 

“Is everyone ready?” Peridot asked as she waved her hand, making the monitor beep and flash. “In three, two, one.” She nodded her head, signaling that they were now on every screen.

 

“Greetings gems, my name is Pink Diamond and I am Rose Quartz, leader of the Crystal Gems,” Rose announced, changing between forms every so often, perhaps to make sure everyone was aware that this was not a trick but instead Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz were one in the same. “Homeworld has taught you that you are nothing more than what they say you are. That if you don’t conform to their ideals, their warped sense of perfection, than you are defective and off-color. Their ideology is flawed. They say that pearls are nothing but fragile objects who should not think for themselves. But the pearl beside me is not only the most intelligent gem I know but also a dedicated fighter. They say that crossfusions are an abomination but Garnet has been able to see more possibilities of the future than any sapphire I’ve ever met. They say that bismuths should only build buildings but our Bismuth has created many powerful weapons than any blacksmith Homeworld has ever seen. Their differences have made them strong and I am proud to call them, not my servants, but my equals and my friends! I am declaring Earth as sanctuary and a safe heaven for gems who wish to escape the oppression of Homeworld!”

 

Despite having heard the speech before, Garnet could not help but be in awe of the passion and conviction in Rose’s speech.

* * *

Years passed since that fateful day and the war was at a stalemate. Homeworld had been shaken to its core by Pink Diamond’s defection. According to their spies, only the diamonds refused to believe the truth of the matter.

The three “all knowing” diamonds thought Pink was playing a game and it would all blow over soon enough. Apparently their denial was so deep, when a Tanzanite brought her suspicions to Yellow Diamond that the defectors from Pink Diamond’s court were actually smuggling gems to Earth, she was shattered for implying that Rose’s broadcast was real. This caused the gems who were loyal to Homeworld to turn a blind eye, allowing Rose’s spies to work unhindered. 

 

It wasn’t just Rose’s spies who used the diamonds’ refusal to see the truth to their advantage. 

 

“Blue made it clear that she, White and Yellow are just waiting for me to get bored and come home which means we’ve got at least a thousand years to beef up Earth’s defenses,” Rose announced to the small council she had convened made up of one of each gem type.

 

“You think they will attack you but you are a diamond, surely they can’t punish another diamond,” Lace gasped, horrified by the very thought.

 

“What makes you think they haven’t punished me before?” Rose asked, letting out a sardonic chuckle. Pearl placed a comforting hand on Pink’s shoulder, whispering---loud enough for Garnet to hear--- that they would save and fix _her_.

 

Garnet wasn’t sure who this mysterious her was and although it galled her that there was another secret they seemed to be keeping from everyone else, she wasn’t going to push them for details especially not now.

 

“Regardless of whether they punished you or not, one thing is for certain, you have completely upset the balance of Homeworld’s regime. In order to gain back control they will have to not only destroy you but all of Earth to wipe out all traces of our rebellion,” Goldie remarked. As a Hessonite, she was known to be cool and collected under pressure but it was still unnerving how casual she was talking about all of the Crystal Gems being obliterated.  
  
“We are more than an embarrassment to them, we are a thorn in their side and eventually, as Goldie pointed out, they will try to destroy us in one full swoop,” Rose agreed. “Garnet, any visions on how they might do so?”

“I can see two possibilities that are the most devastating. However the second one is unlikely to happen as they would need to be on the Earth to deploy it. The first possibility involves all three diamonds beaming their energies towards us, corrupting us into mindless monsters. In that vision, Rose’s shield managed to protect her and the two gems closest to her,” Garnet explained, shuddering before continuing. “In the second one, Homeworld uses millions of the shattered remains of our fallen comrades and put them inside the Earth so when the shards awaken and reform, they shall destroy the Earth completely.”  
  
  
“I concur with the fus----with Garnet,” Goldie amended, throwing Garnet an apologetic look. “Her second vision is unlikely to occur without us knowing and even if Homeworld managed to get by our sensors to inject their weapon into the planet’s core, a weapon that massive would take thousands of years to emerge.”  
  
  
“So how do we counteract the corruption beam thing?” Lily asked. “We Rose Quartzes might be able to make a bubble around the gems we are close to but that might not be enough. Unfortunately we cannot make a shield.”

  
“No but we might be able to build fortresses capable of shielding us from the corruption,” Pearl suggested. “We can also build these fortresses everywhere on Earth and assign groups of gems to each one.”  

 

The gems around the table seemed unsure. Rose, on the other hand, beamed at the pale gem.

 

“I think that is a splendid idea,” Rose said, causing the other gems to nod in agreement. Garnet frowned, slightly, noting that there was only one reason they had hesitated when it was Pearl’s plan. However, she didn’t have much time to dwell on it as Rose continued speaking. “I think it would also be prudent to make sure we have gems skilled at different kinds of weapons than they are used to, I think Pearl should be in charge of teaching them just as Garnet is in charge of helping our newcomers maintain their crossfusions.”

* * *

Bismuth had left the Crystal Gems shortly after the big reveal, wondering the Earth until she finally came back to them decades later.

 

“There you are! I was so worried!” Biggs shouted, leaping onto the rainbow-haired gem. “Don’t you ever leave like that again.”

 

Soon there were a bunch of Crystal Gems dogpiling on Bismuth, happy that she had finally returned. Garnet waited until Bismuth had been properly welcomed back before inviting her to take a walk.

 

“You know I never found out how you discovered the whole Pink Diamond is Rose thing,” Garnet commented as they stood in front of a lake where a couple of ducks were playing in the water.  “Rose said something about you two having an argument but it was pretty obvious that there was more to it than that.”

 

Bismuth sighed. “I’m not sure you want to know. I messed up pretty bad,” she admitted, avoiding Garnet’s eyes.

 

“As bad as lying to us from the beginning and accidentally scapegoating a whole type of gems,” Garnet wondered, her eyebrow raised.

 

“Not unless you consider committing treason and taunting one of our best friends worse than that,” Bismuth informed her. “I built this weapon called the Breaking Point. It would have completely shattered a gem instantly and I wanted to use it on Pink Diamond---which I realize is probably why Rose was so freaked out when I told her---but Rose refused. I got mad at her and called her a hypocrite. I was so angry that she didn't want to use something I was so sure could be used to help us win the war so I attacked her. Pearl must have followed us because all of a sudden she was between me and Rose, begging me to stop, telling me that Pink Diamond wasn’t the enemy. She was Rose. And then I kind reacted like you did, except I thought that the rebellion was just another way for Pink to control us and when Pearl tried to convince me that it wasn’t true, I told her of course she’d think that, she belongs to Pink Diamond and she has to do whatever her diamond tells her to do. Let’s just say that the next thing I knew, I reforming in Roses' war tent.”  
  
  
“This breaking point, how exactly would it work?” Garnet asked, her brow furrowing. “I mean you do realize that unless it was a long-ranged weapon, you would have had to be standing right in front of Pink Diamond which means you would have had to get past her whole entourage. Not to mention Pink Diamond would have had to be standing still and not fighting back in order for you to shatter her."

 

“Your ruby is showing and she’s a smart-alec,” Bismuth grumbled, causing Garnet to punch her arm playfully.

 

“Strategies aside, I understand why you were angry and I understand your anger towards Homeworld but you didn’t have to leave,” Garnet told her. “We could have worked this out together. Besides everyone missed you. Biggs, Crazy Lace, me, Rose and Pearl especially.”

 

“Pearl missed me? After what I said,” Bismuth repeated, surprised and…pleased. She didn’t ask if Pearl had forgiven her for attacking Rose as they both knew that as long as Rose didn’t hold it against her, the pale gem wouldn’t either.

 

“I’m sure she knows you didn’t mean it.”  
  
  
“So these new uppercrust gems, did they bring anyone looking for weapons? I’ve been itching to forge for a while now,” Bismuth remarked, abruptly changing the subject.

 

“Welcome home, Bismuth,” Garnet said with a smile, patting her on the back. “I’ll introduce to some pearls and peridots who will be thrilled to get their own weapon.”

 

“Come on, let’s get down to Bisthmness.”

* * *

“Hey, you’re the fusion Garnet, right?” the Morganite asked, her voice was quite small for a gem her size.    
  
  
“I am. You must be the Morganite who defected to save her Ruby and Pearl.”  
  
  
Garnet wished she had been there to see the arrival of this new fusion but she and Amethyst had taken a couple of gems to explore another part of the planet, watching humans as they built their own pyramids. It was quite fun, especially when Amethyst turned into a cat and “blessed” the temple of Iris.

 

“Yes, well they were too frightened to make the trip to Earth themselves. Besides if a diamond is running things, your rebels can’t be that bad,” the Morganite remarked, causing Garnet to give her a nonplussed look. “Anyway, they are kind of scared to fuse again but I can tell they want to. I don’t think they quite believed Pink Diamond when she told them that they were safe so she suggested I get your help.”  
  
  
Garnet nodded before searching for the ruby and the pearl in her visions, only to instead see a nervous reddish-pink four-eyed gem sitting in a cave, hugging herself. She quickly warped to where the gem was.

  
“Hello there, you must be Rhodonite,” Garnet greeted her softly, causing the gem to shriek in fright and separate into two gems with a burst of light. “It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you. In fact---” Suddenly light enveloped the maroon gem as she unfused.

 

“---if you tell us your story---” Sapphire continued.

 

“---we’ll tell you ours,” Ruby finished.

 

“You’re like us,” the other Ruby said in surprise as she and the pearl crawled closer, their eyes wide.

 

Sapphire took her Ruby’s hand in hers and smiled.

 

“You’re right. We’re made of love just like you,” Sapphire agreed.  
  
  
“We were confused at first too but a wise gem told us never to question ourselves,” Ruby told them. “So we didn’t. Now come on, I want to hear your love story.”  
  
  
“Darling, give them a minute,” Sapphire scolded her gently. “Take all the time you need. We can go first if you like.”

The two gems still looked hesitant so Ruby and Sapphire recalled their story.

 

“Well it started when me and two other Rubies were ordered to be Sapphire’s guards while she was on Earth. We were supposed to protect her from the rebellion,” Ruby began.

 

“I think I knew there was something special about Ruby because I was so drawn to her even before we landed on Earth,” Sapphire gushed, causing Ruby to beam at her in delight.  

 

“Aww, Sapphy. You are the prettiest Sapphire I ever met,” Ruby complimented her, causing her to blush. “Anyway, I was pretty smitten with her too. Then Rose and her terrifying renegade Pearl attacked us. Pearl poofed two of my fellow rubies and she was going to poof Sapphire as well.”

 

“And even it would have just been my physical form that was destroyed, Ruby wasn’t willing to let me get hurt, she impulsively jumped towards me and all of a sudden, we were no longer us but Garnet,” Sapphire recalled, her eyes shining. “It was the most amazing moment of my life.”  
  
“Mine too,” Ruby agreed as they rest their foreheads together, effortlessly refusing back into Garnet.

 

“Your turn,” Garnet whispered, wiping her wet eyes. 

 

“I’m not sure we can beat that,” Rhodonite remarked, hugging herself.

* * *

 “Could they beat it?” Pearl asked curiously when Garnet regaled her talk with Rhodonite to Rose, Pearl and Amethyst.

 

“Every love story is beautiful in its own way,” Garnet replied vaguely.

 

“That’s a no then,” Amethyst quipped, snorting.

 

“Well not every love story can have a dastardly dangerous enemy who is the reason the two lovers are brought together,” Pearl declared, swinging her sword out with a flourish and bowing, causing Amethyst to giggle.

 

“All right, cut it out you two. I’m sure it was a very romantic story,” Rose said sweetly as she glanced over the reports her spies had sent her using a secure connection that only peridots of the Crystal Gems could access. “And it seems that in a few weeks, we might be hearing of another love story---a big one by the looks of it.”  
  
  
Garnet’s eyes lit up and she turned towards Rose, grinning excitedly with her hands pressed together as she waited expectantly for her leader to inform her of another permafusion joining the Crystal Gems. She wondered if this was how Pearl felt every time a pearl got the courage to flee to Earth.

 

“Well don’t keep us in suspense, Rose, tell us before G-squad bursts,” Amethyst prompted.

 

“Jasper went down to the catacombs of Homeworld and found quote “a defective rutile, a defective sapphire and a multiple gem permafusion” unquote,” Rose recited, her grin as big as Garnet.

 

“Multiple? How many?” Pearl inquired.

 

“She doesn’t say. All she writes is it will take a few weeks to safely transport all of them to Earth,” Rose explained.

 

“So I guess I’m gonna meet the famous Buffy soon,” Amethyst commented as she lazily longed on the chair reserved for Rose. Pearl had tried to chase her off it but being told she was not allowed to sit there just made Amethyst more inclined to do so. Pearl found it annoying. Rose found it adorable. “Carny said she’s pretty tough. I can’t wait to wrestle her.”  
  
  
“I would love to be there when you do,” Pearl said with a smirk. “I hope you will show her a thing or two.”

 

“You bet I will,” Amethyst proclaimed. Rose giggled at her bravado. The purple gem gave her a mock-glare. “What? You think I couldn’t? I bet I could beat you.”  
  
  
“Oh is that so? Well then, come at me, my little Amethyst,” Rose teased.  “Let’s see if you can defeat a powerful gem such as I.”  
  
  
Amethyst leaped at Rose, putting her in a headlock only for Rose to tickle her and cause her to lose her balance, seconds later Rose threw her up in the air, snuggling her when she came back down.

 

In a flash of light, Smokey Quartz appeared.    
  
  
“Aw yeah! Team Smokey is here for some fun!”

 

“Let put away the breakable things first,” Pearl squawked as Smokey pulled both her and Garnet into their embrace, using their two free hands to give both of them a noogie. “Oh that’s it! Garnet, I think we need Sardonyx to teach these two a lesson.”  
  
  
“Why stop at her?” Garnet asked, a playful look on her face. “I think it might be time to introduce everyone to Obsidian!”  
  
“Whatever happened to no fusions unless there’s good reason?” Smokey asked, her eyes twinkling in merriment.

“It’s a special occasion. Besides it will show everyone just how wonderful and normal fusion is to us,” Garnet explained. Not to mention if the Homeworld gems saw that Pink Diamond did it, they would be less judgmental towards permafusions.

* * *

There had been hundreds of years of peace. Human empires rose and fell. They fought each other unaware that the Homeworld army were coming and if those shatteres had their way, none of them would survive.

 

With war being declared, Rose had summoned her spies, too afraid for their safety to allow them continue being on Homeworld.

  
“I grabbed some new rubies, they had just arrived and I knew the Diamonds would immediately put them on the battlefield,” Jasper explained as she ordered the four rubies to follow Eyeball.

 

“Aw, Buffy, you do have a heart,” Amethyst laughed, causing Jasper to roll her eyes.

 

“We need all the help we can get, runt,” she barked, although there was no bite in her voice and she even tussled Amethyst's hair affectionately before turning back to Rose, giving her a regretful loook.  “We got as many gems off of Homeworld as we could, Pink but none of us were allowed in your palace to get your pebbles.”  
  
  
Rose sighed and patted Jasper’s shoulder. “I know you did your best,” she told her softly.  “Go be with your Famethyst.”

  
  
“My what?” Jasper asked, bewildered.

 

“Family plus Amethyst. Skinny and Carny complained about the name too but it just rolls off the tongue better,” Amethyst explained, grabbing Jasper by her arm and dragging her off towards the other quartz gems.

 

Rose beckoned Garnet to follow her away from the other gems. She looked terrified not that anyone could blame her.

 

“Remember the first time we fused into Obsidian. She lasted five minutes because Pearl and Amethyst started arguing. But when we introduced ourselves to the rest of the Crystal Gems, we lasted hours,” Rose began.

 

“Four hours, thirty-seven minutes and twenty-three seconds,” Garnet corrected her before blushing, realizing that she probably didn’t need to mention that when there were far more important things to discuss.

“Right and when Fluorite came, we managed to go up to ten-gem fusions. It got me thinking what if Blue or Yellow or even worse White came to attack us themselves. If we could do a mass fusion, we might actually be able to go up against them,” Rose rambled excitedly.

 

“Rose, I think you need to calm down. First of all, it would take a lot of practice to be able to fight as a mass fusion. I mean you are talking about a million minds working as one. Secondly, the diamonds didn’t attack us the first time, they only sent the army and my only vision of them attacking is of them using that corruption beam against us,” Garnet reminded her.

 

“You don’t get it. I was always an embarrassment to them. They never cared about me. They locked me in a tower whenever I did something they didn’t like or approve of. And White---she---oh stars, my poor Pearlie,” Rose cried, tears rolling down her face. “If they don’t shatter me, they will do something much worse that will destroy everything we worked to build. We have to get them before they get us.”

 

 

Garnet wasn’t sure what to say but she hugged Rose tightly.   “We’ll figure it out,” she vowed, searching through her future vision for possible outcomes involving Yellow, Blue and White Diamond.

 

What she saw was not pretty.

* * *

It would be the last battle between Homeworld and the Crystal Gems. Rose, Pearl and a small group of gems had gone to Homeworld itself so Rose could face White Diamond. Jasper and Amethyst wanted to go with them but Rose had informed them that White could read and control minds. The fewer allies they had with them meant there would be fewer gems for White Diamond to control.

 

Meanwhile the Crystal Gems left on Earth battled the invading army vigorously. Beating back the gems who dared to try and take their freedom.

 

“Filthy war machine,” a Homeworld solider spat as she knocked Rhodonite down.

 

“That’s…not…very…nice,” Fluorite growled picking the gem up and throwing her into horizon before she had a chance to attack.

 

Garnet spotted a Morganite poof Amethyst and she raced to stop the Morganite from shattering her but Jasper reached her first, allowing Garnet to bubble Amethyst and send her to the temple where she would be safe until she could get healed.

 

“You do not touch my Famethyst!” Jasper roared headbutting the Morganite hard enough to poof her.  Garnet smirked causing the orange gem to glare at her. “What?” she snarled defensively.

  
“You have gotten soft,” she said with a grin.

 

“Shut up. We need more power. You up for fusing with me?” Jasper asked. 

 

“And here I thought you hated how we intermingled,” Garnet mocked.

 

“Oh shatter me now, not that song again,” Jasper groaned.

 

"I think you're just mad because you are single," Garnet teased as she and Jasper fused. The newly three gem-fusion let out a roar and charged through the group of enemy gems with their helmet and gauntlets.

* * *

 “What have you done, Pink!” Yellow Diamond boomed, glaring down at Rose who was standing in between Pearl and Garnet.

 

“I prefer to be called Rose,” Rose replied, glaring at her. “And to answer your question, I defeated White Diamond.”

 

There were startled gasps among the two armies which had now separated to allow the diamonds to talk. Garnet noted that Blue Diamond was not crying but just staring at the Crystal Gems, studying them.  
  
  
“How could you shatter a fellow diamond?” Yellow shouted, looking like she was torn between outrage and…hurt. “How could you do this to us, Pink? This rebellion. This undermining our authority. Trying to destroy our very society.”

  
  
“Because you are obliterating innocent lives and for what? White’s idea of perfect.  How many planets have you destroyed? How many gems have you shattered?” Rose shouted. “Tell me, how is a perfect empire worth all this pain!”  
  
  
“You are an ungrateful brat. Blue has been far too easy on you!” Yellow snarled, ignoring Rose's pointed questions.  
  
  
“You think she was easy on me! You call locking me in a tower, being condescending, trying to make me feel guilty, making me cry all the time going easy on me!” Rose roared. Although her words were directed to Yellow, she was glaring at Blue who could not look her in the eyes. “I know what it’s like to be loved now and the Crystal Gems are the ones who shoved it to me. Not you, not Blue and certainly not White.”

 

“That’s it! I am done with this conversation! I’m done with trying to talk to you, trying to reason with you! Clearly this planet has warped your mind and you have shattered White. I cannot overlook this any longer, Pink,” Yellow said. But while her tone was cold and firm, her expression betrayed her devastation as she raised her hand and the yellow lighting crackled.

 

Both Pearl and Garnet grabbed Pink as other gems grabbed them, forming a giant fusion that toward over Yellow but as they fused, Blue Diamond jumped in front of Pink, taking the blow meant for her.

 

“NO! Don’t you dare touch Pink! I wouldn’t let White hurt her and I won’t let you harm her!” Blue shouted, not even a little hurt by Yellow’s power. She then used her powers to knock Yellow Diamond backwards.

 

“You dare use your powers on me! I alone was there for you when Pink abandoned us! How could you take her side after what she has done!” Yellow demanded, unaware of the fusion that just kept getting larger as hundred of Crystal Gems piled their strength and weapons into one gem which hopefully was big enough to take down the diamonds. The Homeworld gems called out warnings to their leaders but were unable to defend their diamonds as the Crystal Gems that were not in that fusion were making sure to stay in-between their comrades and their enemies.

 

“Because I won’t lose her again! I always thought Pink was failing Homeworld but if she was so miserable there than maybe we were failing her,” Blue whispered as Yellow used her full power on Blue. “Yellow, please. I’m begging you. Let’s try and work something out. Pink will listen to us if we just try to listen to her.”  
  
  
“Stop using your powers on me, Blue,” Yellow sobbed as she continued to use her destabilizing power causing Blue’s body to be covered with yellow cracks.

 

Blue cupped Yellow's cheek as tears dripped down onto her dry face. “I’m not,” she whispered just as she poofed causing Yellow let out a wail of despair.  

 

But she didn’t have long to dwell on what she had done as the gigantic fusion slammed their sword into her chest, poofing her instantly. 

 

The yellow and blue gemstones lay on ground side by side. Seconds later the fusion came undone and Pink Diamond scooped up her fallen diamonds, tears falling down her cheeks as she bubbled them and sent them away. The Homeworld army stood there frozen in shock as did the Crystal Gems.

 

“We won!” Padparadscha announced, causing the rest of the Crystal Gems to burst out in cheers. A Ruby picked her up and spun her around.

 

Seeing this Garnet unfused so Ruby and Sapphire could have a victory dance. “We never have be apart again,” Ruby laughed. “It’s now official. We’re an eternal flame, baby!”

"Together forever."

* * *

When Ruby and Sapphire left to have alone time, they knew---Sapphire didn’t even have to use future vision--- that they would not truly be alone. As the first permafusion, gems sought her out to talk to her, tell her their stories. Sometimes even humans would seek out a dwarf of fire and a mini-cyclops of ice.

 

“I must admit I think I like yours best. It’s more dramatic,” the human: a bard said as he tuned his lute. “I shall write a song about it.”

Ruby smirked. “Just to be clear, I want to be a fairy this time. No offense to dwarfs but I think fairy might be the closest you all got to describing gems,” she told him.

 

“The dwarf is supposed to be female,” Sapphire said firmly, frowning.

 

“Ah but is your lover not the image of a fairy princess who stands up for the fiery dwarf solider when he is about to be executed by the evil fairy queen,” the bard suggested.

 

“Sounds great. Just one thing, I’m not a he,” Ruby reminded the bard.

 

“I cannot write that. I do not know how it works where you came from. But here it is  unseemly for two women to be together as that would be against God---”  
  
  
Sapphire grabbed the lute and froze it before placing it back on the table. She took the money pouch from the bard and handed it to the innkeeper as Ruby stormed out, her footsteps burning the wooden floor.

 

“And here I thought with Homeworld gone, prejudices against us would be over,” Ruby complained.

 

“Humans were always a fickle bunch,” Sapphire remarked with a heavy sigh. “Come on, let’s go visit Fluorite, Rutile, Padparadscha and Rhodonite. They have a surprise for Garnet.”  
  
“Hey no fair using future vision to see the surprise!” Ruby complained as Sapphire and she ran to a nearby warppad.

 

They found Ru and Tia standing with three fusions. The new fusion was magenta, a fluffy afro and a tutu. 

 

“I’m Imperial Garnet. It’s nice to see you two!” the other Garnet exclaimed, her bubbly personality and appearance made it clear just which two gems were fused.

 

“This is the best surprise in the whole world!” Ruby declared as she and Sapphire fused so Garnet could hug her fellow Ruby-Sapphire fusion. 

 

“So what have you all been up to?” Garnet asked as she walked with the Off-Colors---a name they had chosen to call themselves as three fusions and a double-headed Rutile just didn’t have the same ring to it.

 

“Flying…playing…with…humans...inspiring....legends,” Fluorite recalled as her water wings retreated back into her seventh gem. “The…usual.”

 

“Well I traveled with Renegade’s group for a while,” Rhodonite explained and Garnet smiled at the nickname that Pearl continued to have even after the rebellion had won. “There were these slavers, did you know humans have slaves? Anyway, us pearls were not about to stand for it so Coral Pearl---she’s such a brownnoser, sucking up to Renegade just because she actually fled to Earth without the help of any other gem. Between you and me, I think she just got lucky.”  
  
  
Garnet wondered what exactly Pearl had been up. And come to think of it, it had been a while since she saw Amethyst and Rose. Perhaps it was time to start checking up on old friends. 

  
“Wait, where did Bismuth come from?” Ru asked when Rhodonite got to the part where the pearls had commandeered a ship carrying slaves and suddenly mentioned Bismuth being with the pearls. 

 

“I think you are mixing up stories again, Roddy,” Tia informed the pink fusion with a giggle. 

 

“Oh but that just makes the stories even more enjoyable,” Imperial Garnet interjected happily.

* * *

Garnet peered down at the child snuggled in his bed, noting just how big he had gotten. It seemed like just a week ago, he was this smelly tiny infant who Pearl and Greg constantly fussed over.

 

“Steven, wake up!”  
  
  
“Garnet, what’s going on?” Steven asked sleepily, rolling over in his bed. It was still a little dark but the ten-year-old was already rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and sitting up, hugging the maroon gem.

 

“I wanted to wish you a happy birthday,” Garnet told him. “And I want to give you a surprise before anyone else does.” 

 

“What is it?” Steven inquired, smiling so wide, his dimples were showing. It made Garnet want to melt. She grinned at him and unfused. Steven’s eyes widened when he saw Ruby and Sapphire and he let out a scream of delight, clapping his hands. “Garnet, you are a fusion!”  
  
  
There was a thump from the other room and a pajama clad man came stumbling in, still wrapped up in his bedsheet. “Shtuuball, what happened? Are you okay? Oh, hey Ruby, Sapphire, I didn’t know you two were dropping in,” Greg greeted the two gems with a wave and a yawn. After making sure that Steven was not upset, he stumbled back into his own room, promising to make breakfast in a few hours.

 

“So you’re Ruby and Sapphire. That’s so cool! Why didn’t anyone ever tell me?” Steven asked, jumping up and down on the bed excitedly. 

 

“Well we wanted it to be a surprise,” Sapphire explained.

 

“Yeah and when Greg told us about birthdays we thought you might enjoy it then,” Ruby finished, ruffling his hair. “Did we make a good first impression?”  
  
  
“Did I?” Steven wondered, stars in his eyes.

 

“Oh Steven, we already love you,” Sapphire and Ruby said in union.

“OMGEE, you have to tell me everything. Like how you guys met and fell in love. Mom and Dad already told me their love story. I already know about Pearl’s love story. And Amethyst promised to help me with my grandmothers’ love story,” Steven gushed. “But yours is the one I really want to hear about.”  
  
  
Sapphire and Ruby wondered if they should inform him that one of his “grandmothers” was in their love story as the villain. Then again, it was doubtful that Rose would have let Steven anywhere near the diamonds’ cells if she had not explained why they were there and why it would be some time before they could be trusted to be let out.

 

“All right, long ago, your mother was known as Pink Diamond but she took an identity as Rose Quartz,” Sapphire began.

 

“You know she always said that she was lucky that we were there when she and Pearl attacked the arena but now that I think about it, we were lucky they were there. After all, we wouldn’t be telling this story if Sapphire hadn’t been called to Earth,” Ruby remarked.

 

By the time they finished their story, Steven had fallen back asleep on the lap of Garnet who just sat on the bed until Greg had fully woken up and made a special birthday breakfast.

Three years later, Steven would plan Ruby and Sapphire’s wedding. Pearl and Rose were the best women because of the role they had played in Garnet’s story just as much as she had played a role in theirs.

* * *

Garnet hated being blindsided but she trusted Rose and this time the surprise was not bad at all.

 

“Come on, you’ll love it, I promise,” Rose assured her, looking like she was close to squeeing.

 

“Rose, what is so important that you need to drag me all the way out here?” Garnet wondered, glancing up at the green statue…which just moved.

 

Standing in front of Garnet was a large green fusion with two diamond gemstones in two familiar places.

 

“Are you satisfied now?” the diamond asked gruffly with a hint of humor in her voice.

 

“After thousand of years of judgment of both me and Garnet, I think we are entitled to gloat for a little while,” Rose pointed out, her grin threatening to split her face.

   
“Well I cannot wait to hear this story,” Garnet remarked, smirking. To say Ruby and Sapphire felt vindicated would be an understatement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must give credit to Vanilla_Owns_Chocolate for the name and appearance of the Padapascha/Leggy fusion. Obviously Leggy is here a lot earlier than she did in the show.  
> Feedback would be nice. I really would like to know what you think.


	3. Being Both

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz are one in the same. Rose wishes that wasn't true as Pink doesn't want to be a diamond. In the end she's the only one left standing.

_“Let me tell you a tale, my sweet Steven. Once upon a time in another galaxy, there were three queens---no, that’s not right. Let’s start over: once upon a time in another galaxy, there were an empress, two queens and a princess who ruled over a vast empire. For eons the empire was considered a perfect society with the rulers unmoved by the suffering they caused to enforce their laws. To them, perfection was everything and individuality and fun was outlawed. The Princess was the youngest and she believed differently, enjoying playing and interacting with her subjects, seeing beauty in what others called ugly. Her mothers and grandmother tried to stop her from acting this way, locking her in a tower and even taking away her only friend whenever she misbehaved. The Princess didn’t understand why her actions were wrong but she had no idea that it was her kingdom’s laws that were wrong until she arrived on Earth and began a glorious rebellion to free her gems. She fought alongside amazing gems as their equal and their friend not their master.”_

* * *

Pink Diamond had often wondered what would have happened if Pearlie had been with her when she arrived on Earth. Her first pearl had been her best and only friend for so long; the pink gem was always willing to join in her games and always spoke to her informally when they were in private.

 

Would she have been so level-headed to suggest Pink disguise herself when she visited the Amethysts, carefully guiding her out of the Kindergarten when she was causing too much of a scene inadvertently leading Pink to see human beings and notice the contrast between lush grassy plains with beautiful flowers and the prime kindergarten that was bleak and devoid of life?

Pearlie would have jumped to a chance to be Rose Quartz’s second-in-command, never suggesting that they try to talk to Blue and Yellow first, convince them to save Earth. And while she would take pride in fighting beside Rose, she would never put herself at risk just to keep her and her secret safe when their opponents attacked Rose. Of course it was entirely possible that her hot-blooded ways would cause her to be far too focused on their enemies to keep track of who Rose was fighting.

 

If Pearlie had stumbled on Bismuth when she was fighting with Rose, she wouldn’t have tried to explain, revealing her friend’s secret in the process. She would have attacked Bismuth without a second thought, furious that she would dare harm their leader and friend.

 

The pink gem would be just as protective of Pink Diamond as she was Rose Quartz, refusing to see a difference between the two gems. She would never understand that Pink didn’t want to be a diamond, she wanted to be Rose Quartz. After all Pink never treated Pearlie like anything other than a friend or perhaps their relationship was like human siblings: sisters.

 

And despite this, no one would ever make the mistake of believing that Pearlie had only joined the Crystal Gem rebellion because her diamond led it and therefore she was still technically a slave.

 

She was far too outspoken and playful for anyone to accuse her of not shaking off Homeworld’s chains. Perhaps that was why White Diamond had taken her in the first place because it was hard for her to act like a “proper” pearl.

 

It was ironic how Blue Diamond had once told Pink that her old pearl might be the pearl she wanted but her new pearl was what she needed. Blue thought Pearl would keep Pink out of trouble and turn her into the leader she should be. To Pearl’s credit, she did do exactly that but not in the way the other diamonds had expected.

 

In contrast to Pearlie, Pearl was respectful, would never speak her mind unless directly asked, unsure of herself and quiet. However Rose Quartz was Pearl’s creation and she showed no fear when Pink handed her a sword, eagerly teaching herself how to wield it and she showed no hesitation when she attacked gems stronger than her.

 

And when the fallout from Rose outing herself as Pink Diamond happened, Pearl decided that she had to distance herself from her lover, ending the romantic part of their relationship.

 

“Is this because of what Bismuth said?” Rose demanded.  
  
  
“It’s not just Bismuth. There are other gems, mostly from your court, who keeping seeing me as your pearl,” Pearl explained, her voice soft as she averted her eyes. “The worst part is I agree with them.”

 

“How can you say that? When have I ever treated you like you were just a pearl?” Rose protested, trying to understand why Pearl was doing this to her.

 

“You don’t mean to,” Pearl said softly, unwilling to elaborate. “It’s not your fault. You have done nothing wrong. I just need to be sure of who I am.”  
  
  
“How can you be so selfish?” Pink Diamond demanded, stomping her foot in frustration, upset and hurt by what she perceived as callousness on her lover’s part. How could Pearl end their relationship so callously? Did she not care about her at all? Didn’t their relationship mean anything to her? 

 

The pale gem had been looking at the ground but after hearing that accusation, her head snapped up, her eyes blazing in fury.

 

“Selfish! You think _I’m_ selfish, Rose! I have been at your side for eons, trying to make you happy. Everything I do is for you,” Pearl snapped.  “I have sacrificed my feelings countless times for you.”  
  
  
“And did it ever occur to you to tell me how you felt instead of just lying to me?” Pink asked. She had never made a decision without consulting Pearl giving the pale gem ample opportunity to speak her mind freely. 

 

“So it’s okay for me to lie _for_ you but not _to_ you,” Pearl said dryly. When she received no answer from the pink gem, she continued: “I didn’t lie to you. I have never lied to you. Sometimes I don’t tell you how scared I am that we will be shattered or that lying to our friends is tearing me apart or that I feel hurt when you decide to take a human lover.”  
  
  
“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” Rose asked, putting her arms around the now tearful gem.

 

“Because I still think my feelings don’t matter,” Pearl whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Deep down I’m still just a peal. I am nothing.”  
  
  
“No, Pearl, you are everything. I am so sorry if I ever made you feel like you were nothing,” Rose murmured, kissing all over Pearl’s face. “I love you so much and if you really feel like you need to do this, I’ll support you.”

 

“This isn’t about you, Rose,” Pearl murmured, wrapping her arms around Rose’s neck. “It’s about me. And I promise you that I will still be here for you no matter what.”

 

“Good because who are you?” Rose asked.

 

“A Crystal Gem,” Pearl replied after a few moments of thought.

 

“No…well yes but that wasn’t what I was referring to,” Rose told her, giving Pearl a rather fond smile.

 

“Your second-in-command?” Pearl asked, now a little unsure.  
  
  
“You are **_the_** terrifying renegade pearl. You are the pearl who shall give all other pearls hope that they can be more than servants,” Rose proclaimed, causing the pale gem to blush blue. “You are warrior and a rebel. If it weren’t for you, I don’t think I would have come so far. Thank you, my Pearl for everything.”

 

“I will always love you,” Pearl confessed.

 

“Good because I would hate to be the only one pinning,” Rose teased her, kissing her passionately before letting her go.

 

Pearlie was her first friend. Pearl was her first love and she had yet to lose her hold on Rose’s heart.

* * *

“I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK! SHE IS MY FRIEND AND IF YOU INSULT HER EVER AGAIN, I PROMISE YOU I WILL---” Pink Diamond trailed off as she stared at the cowering gem who had thrown herself at her feet, begging for forgiveness. She glanced around at the crowd that had gathered around them and she felt sick when she realized even some of the Crystal Gems were looking at her with apprehension as though she would shatter the spinel who had displeased her.

 

She was wearing her Rose Quartz’s form but that did not stop gems from seeing her as a fearsome diamond.

 

Angry at herself and hurt by the sight of fear on her friends’ faces, Pink Diamond jumped to a nearby warp pad, ignoring Pearl’s call for her to come back.

 

Her palanquin was right where she had left it. It was here she had told her court who she truly was and they had sworn their loyalty to her. Not because they agreed with her but because she was their diamond.

 

“You are selfish! You are pathetic! You are cruel! You are a monster!” Pink snarled as she began to tear apart her palanquin, destroy a reminder of what she had never wanted to be.

 

When there was nothing left but a mess of rubble at her feet, Pink just sat there, angry tears falling down her face. She must have been lost in her own world because she didn’t realize that Garnet had found her until the maroon gem sat down next to her.

 

“All your stories about Pink Diamond being self-centered, being a tyrant. You were so disdainful towards her. You really believed it,” Garnet remarked.

 

“I knew what Blue, Yellow and White were doing to organic life, to their own gems. But all that mattered to me was getting my own planet, my own court because I naïvely thought that I could make my own rules. I didn’t care about anyone else but myself,” Pink muttered.

 

“Sapphire was once at a ball where these little organic creatures showed up,” Garnet mused. “I wonder who convinced Blue Diamond to rescue them.”  
  
“That’s not the point and you know it,” Pink grumbled, shuddering as she recalled what happened after the next incident she caused.

 

“Perhaps. And while I know that there are some gems who are acting a little apprehensive of you that doesn’t mean you are a monster,” Garnet assured her. “It just means they are still getting used to the fact that you are both Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond.”  
  
  
“But Rose is who I want to be. Just Rose no Pink Diamond,” Rose declared, looking down at her white dress and shoeless feet, grimacing as she thought of the outfit of Pink Diamond.

 

“Let me tell you something, Rose Quartz is not perfect. Rose Quartz is reckless, stubborn, a tad insensitive and deceitful,” Garnet pointed out. “She has flaws as does Pink Diamond. If you want to be Rose, that’s fine. But don’t make Pink Diamond the villain just because she isn’t who you are anymore.”

 

“Right now, I have no idea who I am. I keep going back and forth between being Pink and being Rose,” Rose remarked, slightly calmer now.

 

“Find a balance,” Garnet suggested. “Find a way to be both without having to tear yourself into two.”

 

Rose let out a heavy sigh. “I’ll try.”

 

“Don’t forget that Pearl and I are here for you,” Garnet said softly, standing up before placing her hand on Rose’s head. “Whenever you feel like you are going to fall apart, we’ll be at your side.” 

* * *

 Jasper was frustrating. Loyal to a fault. Obnoxiously so.

 

But at the same time, it was endearing to learn that the ultimate quartz would give up her prejudices simply because her diamond asked her too. And perhaps it was that loyalty that had slowly but surely turn her into a Crystal Gem.

 

“Why is the runt your favorite?” Jasper asked. 

 

Pink sighed. At least she had the decency to ask that question when Amethyst had run off to play a prank on a Zultanite who had been among the fugitives Jasper had brought back to Earth. 

 

In truth, there was a reason why she did sort of favor Amethyst. The purple gem was a blank slate. She had no experience with Homeworld’s ways and therefore she was able to adapt to Earth in ways even Rose could not.

 

“I don’t pick favorites,” Pink replied. The disbelieving expression on Jasper’s face was a testament to how far she had come. Of course asking a direct question at all without adding my diamond was something that had taken centuries for her to be comfortable with. “Do you remember when we first met? How you swore that you would be my loyal knight, destroying all who defied me?”

 

“Not knowing that I was defying you myself,” Jasper injected, letting out a sardonic chuckle. 

 

“But that’s just it. You are so willing to prove yourself me, so eager to shatter my enemies just because I’m your diamond. I just want to be treated like I’m an ordinary gem and Amethyst treats me like that.”  
  
  
Jasper gave her a puzzled look. “You were never an ordinary gem even as Rose Quartz. I may have viewed Rose Quartz as a traitor but I admired her because she was a fantastic leader and tactician. She was a magnificent gem,” she remarked.

  
“Was?” Pink asked playfully, an eyebrow raised.

 

“Are,” Jasper corrected herself.

 

“Here I was thinking you were saying that because I turned out to be Pink Diamond, you thought less of me,” Rose laughed.

 

“Well considering the reason Rose was so well prepared for our attacks because she had known about them before hand, it does make it slightly less impressive,” Jasper remarked, grinning wolfishly.

 

“Oh my stars, I didn’t know Earth had shapeshifting creatures!”  the Zultanite exclaimed, running after a purple crow that had just turned into an owl. “Wait, I must use your beautiful feathers to craft an elegant cape.”

 

“You know Amethyst looks up to you. So why don’t you teach her some of your moves,” Rose suggested. “That way she can be prepared when Homeworld decides to restart the war.”

“You just want me to spend some time with her, don’t you?” Jasper guessed.

 

“Well I certainly won’t order you to spend any time with her. But I would like it if you would try to get along,” Rose admitted.

 

“Yes, my diamond,” Jasper said with a smirk.

 

Despite herself, Rose couldn’t help laugh. “Amethyst is rubbing off you already,” she pointed out. 

 

“Perish the thought.” 

* * *

“What is that? It’s kinda freaky looking,” Amethyst stated, studying the squirmy thing in one of her sister’s arms.

 

“It’s a baby,” Rose explained before looking at the infant with wide eyes. She had never been this close to a human baby before. In fact for years, she hadn’t even realized those tiny things were the same species. as humans. “Where did you get it?”

 

“Her parents gave her to me. They said she was blind and they hoped the goddesses could fix her,” Inky explained.

 

Rose stiffened. She had heard of humans leaving their defective babies out to die. It seemed that gems and humans weren’t quite as different as she had once thought. She had no doubt that if the gems could not heal the baby, the infant’s parents would not take her back.

 

Feeling sorry for the poor child, Rose took her from Inky’s arms and cradled the infant in her own arms, relishing the softness and the warmth of the child.

 

“Do you think we can use some of the zoo’s technology to help raise her?” Rose suggested, stroking the tuft of hair of the sleeping bundle in her arms.

 

“Well we might need it and not just for her,” Inky said, glancing at Amethyst meaningfully.

 

“Amethyst, would you mind getting Curly for me please?” Rose asked. 

 

“Sure thing Rose,” Amethyst replied, blissfully unaware that had just been ploy to send her away.

 

“Well you know how I’m been hanging around the human village. Well there’s this male named Avery. We have been getting really close,” Inky explained, running her fingers through her purple hair rather anxiously.

 

“And why have I not met him, you silly quartz? Are you afraid that I might steal him away from you?” Rose teased, trying to ease the tension.

 

“No, of course not. It’s just I’m pregnant,” Inky mumbled.

 

“Oh? What does that mean exactly?” Rose asked, trying to comb her mind for the meaning of that word. Her brow cleared in realization and she beamed at the amethyst. “You are with child! How wonderful! How unprecedented! I didn’t know gems could have offspring.” 

 

“Well that’s the thing. I will have to shapeshift a womb and the baby will have to use my gem to survive,” Inky explained.  “I checked with several sapphires and they all said I would have to give up my physical form for my baby.”

“Did you check with Garnet? Because maybe there is another possibility,” Rose suggested.

 

“I hope so because I really don’t want to miss out on this kid,” Inky murmured, her eyes shining.

 

Nine months passed and Inky unfortunately did have to give up her gem for her newborn daughter.

 

However her sacrifice was not in vain. Not only did her daughter and the little blind babe become the first two humans to be raised by gems, they also inspired Rose to start finding ways to combine organic life with gems without one destroying the other.

* * *

The diamonds were done waiting, the final battle would begin soon enough. Yellow and Blue would arrive on Earth with their armies at dawn.

 

“In order for Homeworld to be truly defeated, we need to capture White Diamond,” Rose remarked. “Unfortunately, she still on Homeworld which means we need to bring the fight to her.”

“I would suggest while on Homeworld, we take as many weapons, ships and gems prisoner as we can. Anything to even the odds against us,” Garnet suggested.

 

“Only a small group should be sent as we will need most of our forces on Earth,” Goldie stated logically.

 

“Runt and I will go with Pink to Homeworld,” Jasper began, causing Amethyst to grin at her.

 

“No, I need all quartz soldiers to stay on Earth and fight the armies. I have a feeling that Topazes will be the worst we find on Homeworld so I won’t need too many fighters with me,” Rose told them gently. “Of course, I will have to go to White’s palace alone. She can read and control minds so I would prefer not to have any gems for her to control.”

“Rose, I’m coming with you,” Pearl said firmly.

 

“Over my shattered shards,” Rose barked, staring at Pearl like she had grown a second head. “I already lost one pearl to White, I refuse to lose you too.”  
  
  
“I am stood by your side since the beginning. I am not going to leave you now not when the stakes are so high,” Pearl declared, making it clear that no matter what Rose said she would not be convinced to do otherwise. “And before you say anything else, I would like to remind you that I am a free pearl who makes her own decisions even if my leader doesn’t like them.”

 

Pink Diamond wanted to point out that if White Diamond get her hands on Pearl, she wouldn’t be free in any sense of the word. Rose was too busy being proud of how assertive Pearl was being.

* * *

After making sure the humans and all other creatures were safely away from the battlefield and that all the Crystal Gems were briefed on the battle plans, Pink Diamond got onto her leg ship, along with her Renegade, three pearls, four rubies and two rose quartzes and took off for the planet she had left behind so long ago.

 

“Coral, Lottie and Teal, can you tell me what our greatest weapon is?” Pearl asked her students.

 

“Our swords,” Coral Pearl replied eagerly. Pink didn’t have to turn around to know that the reddish orange gem was hoping that she would receive a compliment from the pearl she idolized.

 

“Well yes but that wasn’t exactly what I was getting at,” Pearl told her gently.  
  
  
“The fact that other gems see us as weak,” the chocolate pearl spoke up, sounding just a little smug.

 

“Very good, Lottie. Use their perception against them. If they don’t notice you, slip by them. If they do, act as if you are just lost and when they get close enough, poof and bubble them,” Pearl explained. “You three are my best pupils and I know you will make me proud.”  
  
  
“Yes, Renegade,” the three pearls chorused.

 

Now that she had given her students a pep talk, Pearl went to stand by Pink Diamond’s side.

 

“Pearl, I know you want to come with me but someone needs to rescue my pebbles and they won’t come out of hiding if it’s anyone but you,” Pink implored her.

“I’m not letting you face her alone,” Pearl insisted, a determined glint in her eyes.  

 

“But what if she…?” Pink whispered, her voice quivering in fear as she saw her beloved pearls standing side by side, blenched and lifeless.  
  
  
“Then you will fix me just like you will fix Pearlie,” Pearl told her gently. “You can beat her, Rose, I know you can.”

 

“How?”  
  
  
“Don’t you remember Garnet’s vision. Your shield managed to protect you from that corruption beam. I have no doubt that it will do the same to those eye beams,” Pearl explained, using her hologram to show Pink using her shield to protect herself from White’s attack.

 

“Did I mention nothing I’ve done would be possible without you?” Pink asked, smiling for the first time.

 

“Yes and it’s always nice to hear,” Pearl said, beaming proudly.

* * *

Soon Pearl and Pink were inside White’s head, standing in front of White Diamond and poor mind-controlled Pearlie.

 

“Really Starlight, why are you still in that silly form when we both know Rose Quartz and her rebellion is nothing more than a game?” White Diamond jeered.

 

“I am Rose,” Pink snarled.

 

“That’s not what you are calling yourself and you know it. You always do this, Pink, you always do such silly things to make you feel better about yourself,” White mocked her smugly. “Like enabling such terrible behavior in inferior gems so you can be the best of the worst.”

 

Pink Diamond burst out laughing much to the shock of the three gems in front of her. Seeing the surprise on White’s face just made Pink laugh harder.

 

“Oh come now, White, you know better than that,” Pink mimicked the bigger diamond. “You can read my thoughts. You know what I think of myself and what I think of them. The Crystal Gems are so much better than me. How could I possible think I’m the best of the worst when I know that I’m the worst of the best?” 

 

“I thought that by giving you that pearl, you would learn how to be a real diamond---”

 

“But you, the most glorious diamond made a mistake,” Pink interjected with a grin. She tried to keep herself in front of Pearl, allowing herself to be attacked first. Unfortunately, Pearl was having none of it and continued to try and stand in by Pink’s side.  

 

“DO NOT INTERRUPT ME!” White screeched, clearly getting angry.

 

“White, don’t hurt her please!”  
  
  
To Pink’s shock, Blue Diamond came running into the room, apparently she had followed them from Earth to Homeworld.

“Oh for star’s sake, Blue, why must you act so emotional all the time? Pink has been acting out for eons. She must be punished. Perhaps Pink isn’t the only one whose impurities need to be purged,” White said coldly before using her eyebeams to hit Blue Diamond turned her into the same white puppet Pearlie was.

  
“Pearl please get out of here,” Pink pleaded in a low voice. With Blue standing behind her, Pink was unsure her shield could block the eyebeams coming from her direction as well as the two other gems.

 

“Now now, Starlight, don’t be rude! If your friend wants to stay, by all means, she should stay,” White purred, her eyes glowing white. Pink immediately had her shield up, managing to defend both her and Pearl from the attack. “Don’t you raise your shield at me. I am older, stronger and wiser than you, Starlight. I know that your emotions make you weak. Let me help you become perfect, flawless just like me. You know you can’t hold me off forever so why avoid the inevitable?”

 

There was a part of Pink that wanted to listen. The part of her who was tired of being an embarrassment. Tired of fighting. She wanted everyone to see her as perfect, to see her as just as important and powerful as the other diamonds.

 

But Rose knew better. Rose knew that perfection should not come at the cost of one’s identity. She knew that the gems Homeworld looked down on had potential to be amazing. If only they were given the chance.

 

“NO!” Rose shouted, her shield deflecting the three-way attack, sending a shockwave knocking Blue, Pearlie and White backwards.

 

Unwilling to give White a chance to get up, Pearl and Rose fused into Rainbow Quartz before using Rose’s sword to push it on White’s gem, summoning all their strength to poof her.

 

“Oh Starlight, you were always my undoing,” White Diamond murmured seconds before her body disappeared and all that was left of her was a gigantic diamond. The bubble used to contain her was almost comically large and Rainbow could not keep herself from giggling as she sent it to Earth.

Rainbow then split into two crying and laughing gems.

 

“I can’t believe it! You did it!” Pearl exclaimed, jumping into Rose’s arms.

 

“We did it,” Rose corrected her as she spun her around.

 

“Pink? White? What happened?”  Pearlie asked as she stood up. She was pink again and the only thing left of her ordeal was a small crack on her face.

 

“Oh Pearlie, you’re okay!” Rose exclaimed, putting Pearl down so she could hug her old friend.

 

“Pink, why do you look like that?” the pink pearl asked, sounding bewildered as she took in Rose’s form.

 

“Pink, where is White?” Blue Diamond asked, reminding Rose of her presence. Immediately Pearlie went rigid and she tried to take a few steps backwards, knowing that she could not treat her diamond as an equal while they were among other gems especially a diamond.

 

Rose refused to let her move and she wrapped her arms around each of her pearls’ waist, unwilling to let either of them stand behind her ever again.

 

“She’s gone,” Rose answered Blue’s question without even looking at her. Instead, she began walking towards the exit, ready to get her pearls and her pebbles far away from this horrible planet as she could.

  
  
“What? What are you talking about?” Blue demanded, sounding horrified. “Pink, answer me! What did you do! PINK!”

Pearl span around. “Her name is Rose, you insufferable clod!” she spat. 

 

“White, you are amazing,” Pearlie breathed, staring at Pearl in awe.

 

“That’s my wonderful renegade,” Rose complimented.

 

“So I take it I missed a lot,” Pearlie guessed as Rose used her levitation powers to jump from White’s eye to the window of her palace.

 

“It’s a long story that we will tell you on the way to Earth,” Pearl assured her. She suddenly sobered. “We may have defeated White but we have two more diamonds and their armies to take on. Any chance you would like to try using a sword.”

 

“Do you have something spikier?” Pearlie inquired, causing Pearl to raise an eyebrow at her.

 

Rose let them discuss what weapons would be good for a beginner who had just spent the last few eons being used as puppet while she collected her pebbles.

 

“Pink’s back!”  
  
  
“We missed you, Pink!”  
  
  
“Welcome back!”

 

“I missed you all too. Now come on my darlings, make me a basket big enough for me to carry you all,” Rose ordered. When they finished it, the pebbles jumped into the basket without question, not caring where Rose was taking them as they were just pleased to be with her again. “Pearl, would you mind carrying them for me. Just until we get to my ship.”

  
She turned around to see that Pearlie had selected a mace from Pearl’s collection of weapons that she had apparently decided to bring with her.

* * *

After checking to make sure that the rest of their team had stolen ships and were successfully off the planet, Rose, her pearls and her pebbles flew back to Earth where the battle had come to standstill as Yellow and Blue Diamond waited to confront her.

 

“Time to end this,” Rose muttered.

 

“You defeated White Diamond. Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond will be easy,” Pearlie assured her.

 

“White underestimated us. Something tells me Yellow won’t make the same mistake,” Rose pointed out.

 

“Except you have the Crystal Gems to back you up,” Pearl reminded her. “United we stand, Rose.”  
  
  
Rose nodded, her eyes hardened as she stared at her fellow diamond. Soon it would be over. Soon the diamond authority would be no more.

* * *

 After healing gems who were hurt during the battle including Amethyst, who was quite bummed out to have missed the rest of the battle, Rose decided to call for a council meeting.

 

“I apologize to have interrupted your celebrating but we have important matters to discuss,” Rose began.

 

“First things first. Have the diamonds been contained? Their armies might have been defeated for now but considering most of them have made it clear that they do not want to side with us, it’s entirely probable that they will try to find the diamonds and free them,” Goldie pointed out.

 

Rose was surprised that no one had suggested shattering them. Even Bismuth seemed content to let them remain unshattered. But then again the rainbow haired gem had been so convinced that they would not win the war if they did not shatter the Homeworld gems and yet Rose had managed to take down all three diamonds without shattering them.

 

“They have been bubbled, locked away and I have moved them to a secure location which I will not be sharing with anyone for your own safety,” Rose informed them. She didn’t add that she hoped to someday unbubbled them. For all her problems with the diamonds, a part of her wanted to try and get them to see that how their empire could flourish without the destruction and pain they caused. “The war is over but we still have much work to do. I want to find a way to create gems without the taking of organic life and as for the gem controlled planets like Homeworld, I want to restore them to their former glory.”  
  
  
“That’s a tall order,” Bismuth deadpanned.  

 

“Well obviously we’ll start small and see what we can do. We won’t know until we try,” Rose pointed out with a laugh. “Also I am the last of the diamonds and while I have yet to decide if I will be keeping that part of my name, I refuse to be the sole leader. I think that we should create a gem council made up of four delegates of each gem type. Decisions will be made as a group effort. For example I am about to pass a law declaring all gems equal and free to do whatever they wish. All in favor say aye.”  
  
  
To absolutely nobody’s surprise, the law was passed unanimously.

“Anything else, Rose?” Garnet asked, smirking slightly at that absolutely unnecessary vote.

 

“Yes, sometime ago Biggs made a suggestion that I either become Rose Diamond or Pink Quartz. Before you all go back to celebrating, I would like to know which name you think I should use,” Rose replied, completely serious.

 

This time no one could hold in their laughter. It was so absurd but yet at the same time it was a reminder that they had won.

 

Sure there would be some Homeworld loyalists who would try and attack the Crystal Gems, either because they refused to abandon their diamonds’ ideals or because they simply were disgusted by the idea of lesser gems being treated equally.

 

The Crystal Gems had won and no one could take that away from them. They had overcome impossible odds and now they were free from Homeworld---no it was even better than them just being free. They now called the shots. In the beginning it had been just about making Earth a safe heaven. Now they were in control of the entire Gem Empire.

 

“Rose Diamond to remind us that you are not only the gem who fought against the system but you were one of the uppercrusts who decided that she didn’t want to have power when others were oppressed,” Bismuth declared, causing Rose to beam at her delightedly.

 

“Well it certainly would be more correct than calling you a Quartz. Although I suppose we will have to find a different name for Rainbow Quartz though,” Pearl remarked, her hand wrapped around Bismuth’s hand.

 

After deciding that her name was to be Rose Diamond, Rose left with her council to return to the celebrations.

 

It was time to start a new era.

* * *

 

_“What if they had chosen Pink Quartz?”_

  
  
_“Then I would have begged them to reconsider.”_

  
  
_“Hey Mom?”_

  
  
_“Yes my little prince.”_

  
  
_“What ever happened to the Empress and the two Queens?”_

 

_“You are about to find out.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I hope it's not too confusing when I change Rose and Pink's names abruptly. I hope you can see why I did that.  
> Secondly, Rose and Steven have different issues and unfortunately White had a harder time getting into Rose's head because she is already feeling pretty crappy about herself so she actually can nosell White's manipulation. Also I apologize that I suck at the action scene but I hope I didn't do that badly.  
> About Pearl and Rose, I think their relationship was a little unhealthy and needed a lot of growth on both Pearl and Rose's part.  
> Please give me feedback, I want to know what you think.


	4. Fight for Yourself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Rose being revealed as Pink Diamond, leaves Pearl struggling with her identity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay Rose and Steven's chapters will take place strictly after the war (which is kind of obvious in Steven's case but still). Two more chapters and I can put this story to rest.

Pearl wasn’t sure why she had gone to the forge on that fateful day. She had gone to speak to Bismuth about something but whatever it was she had wanted to talk to the Crystal Gem’s resident blacksmith about was quickly forgotten when she overheard Bismuth and Rose arguing about something called the Breaking Point which was apparently a weapon that could be used to shatter Pink Diamond. Seconds later, she heard Bismuth shout a battle cry and she knew she had to intervene.

 

“Bismuth, stop please!” Pearl shouted, standing in the forge’s entrance, a dismayed expression on her face as she saw the horrible scene laid out in front of her with Bismuth seconds away from attacking their friend and leader. She used their surprise at her sudden appearance to jump in-between them. “Pink Diamond isn’t our enemy. She is Rose!”

 

Pearl had assumed that Bismuth would see the fact that Pink Diamond was actually their leader as a good thing or that she would at least understand why shattering Pink Diamond was not an option for the Crystal Gems. Unfortunately, Bismuth’s expression changed from confusion and disbelief back into to rage, upon realizing that if Rose wasn’t denying Pearl’s claim that she was Pink Diamond than it must be true.

 

“Are you telling me that Pink Diamond has been masquerading as the leader of a rebellion just for her own twisted enjoyment? Was controlling gems on Homeworld not enough for you that you had to seek other ways to have power?” Bismuth roared at Rose, her eyes flashing dangerously. “You made me believe in a dream that you don’t even believe in yourself.”

 

“That isn’t true. Rose wants every gem to be whoever they want to be. She doesn’t want to control anyone,” Pearl protested.

 

“Of course you would believe that. You belong to her. You aren’t a rebel, you are Pink Diamond’s pearl and you always have been,” Bismuth spat, glaring at Rose disgustedly, blaming the pink gem completely even though Pearl was complicit in her actions. “I thought that the way you acted around Rose was just because she had freed you from whatever gem owned you. Now I realize that she was your owner all along and that’s why you are so subservient to her, that’s why you never argue with her even when you are uncomfortable with what she does. And that’s why you can’t see that she has betrayed everything Crystal Gems stand for because you still belong to her and you always will.”

 

“I BELONG TO NO ONE!” Pearl screamed with such vehemence it seemed to snap Bismuth out of her own anger. However before the rainbow gem could say another word, Pearl slammed her spear into her gem, poofing her.

 

Rose had been so busy watching her lover and her friend’s fight that she had barely reacted to what was going on, including Pearl revealing her old identity. Seeing Bismuth’s gem hit the ground snapped her out of her stupor and she rushed past Pearl to bubble Bismuth.

 

“We will have to hide her somewhere and come up with some sort of cover story,” Rose stated, looking worriedly at the pale gem who was still shaking uncontrollably.

 

It took a moment for Rose’s words to penetrate Pearl’s frantic mind. “Cover story,” Pearl repeated, staring at Rose blankly.

 

“No one can find out about this,” Rose explained, extending her hand to gently stroke Pearl’s arm.

 

“So you are planning on keeping Bismuth locked up for eternity in order to keep your secret safe,” Pearl guessed, outrage coloring her tone as she took a few steps back, shaking Rose’s hand off of her as though her touch burned her.

 

 “And what would you have me do? Even if she didn’t know I was Pink Diamond, she made it clear that if I didn’t use the Breaking Point, then I would have to shatter her or she’d shatter me. I would have had to poof her anyway and the last thing I want is to tell anyone what she did and taint her memory,” Rose rambled.

 

Pearl’s eyes narrowed slightly as she wondered if she had not been here and Bismuth had been poofed and bubbled, would Rose have kept it a secret from her too. She wanted to believe that Rose would never keep secrets from her but she had a sneaking suspicion that was not the case.

 

Rose averted her eyes, guessing what Pearl was thinking and not wanting to confirm her fears.

“I won’t do it,” Pearl said firmly, swallowing a lump in her throat. Why was contradicting Rose’s orders so hard? Maybe Bismuth was right about her. Maybe deep down, she still was Pink Diamond’s Pearl even in their new identities. “I would do anything for you, Rose, you know that but I draw the line at bubbling our friends. Just because she won’t listen to you, doesn’t mean she won’t listen someone else. Like Garnet. She will listen to Garnet.”

 

“Pearl---” Rose began.

 

Knowing that Rose was about to protest as Bismuth would surely tell Garnet that Rose was Pink Diamond, Pearl quickly cut her off: “Garnet was the first gem we ever recruited. She inspired us to fight for other gems under the Diamonds’ thumb. Don’t you think she deserves to know the truth,” Pearl implored her.

 

“And what if she reacts like Bismuth did? She hates the diamonds for a very good reason: Blue was going to shatter Ruby and Sapphire. Why wouldn’t she hate Pink Diamond as well?” Rose protested, tears starting to fall down her cheeks as she pictured her teammate and friend’s reaction to the truth.

 

At once Pearl was at her side, cupping her cheeks, and kissing away the tears.

 

“Of all gems, Garnet would understand what it is like falling in love and becoming someone else,” Pearl whispered.  “Even if she has a hard time accepting who you were, she’ll come around. I know she will. She’s our friend.”

 

“I know she is,” Rose said softly, taking Pearl’s hand and entwining their fingers. “How can I say no to you, my wonderful amazing brave Pearl, after everything you’ve done for me?”

 

Pearl blushed blue at the compliment.  

* * *

It had worked better and worse than Pearl had expected. When Bismuth reformed, she was more willing to accept the truth about Pink Diamond and Rose. Garnet had taken the news a little better than Bismuth did and the three of them convinced Rose to tell the rest of their friends and allies the truth.

 

Afterwards the zoo was dismantled and the entirety of Rose’s court had joined the Crystal Gems swelling their ranks from hundreds to thousands. Then Rose made a statement declaring that the Earth was a safe haven for all gems who wished to escape the Diamonds’ tyranny.

 

Hundreds of gems fled to Earth, even some who were not so keen on protecting organics but they still wanted freedom from the Diamonds and then one day, a pearl stole a ship and landed on Earth.

 

“Are you sure it will be just her?” Pearl asked, as she, Garnet and Rose waited for the newcomer to land. While Pearl hoped that their spies on Homeworld would convince some pearls to go to Earth and be free, she could not fathom a pearl making the choice to leave and then finding a way to escape Homeworld all by herself. It was unheard of for pearls to have their own thoughts let alone thoughts of rebellion.

 

Garnet just smiled knowingly as the ship landed and a reddish orange pearl came outside, her eyes wide she took in her new surroundings. When she saw the three gems standing in the meadow, she let out a delighted shriek and ran towards them, relieved tears spilling from her eyes.

 

Pearl’s jaw dropped when the pearl fell to her knees and threw her arms around the pale gem’s legs.

 

“It’s you. It’s really you. Oh Renegade, I knew you truly existed and then I saw you on the screen and I knew that I had to get to Earth so I could meet you. Oh my stars, I know I’m not worthy but please teach me your ways,” the pearl begged her. “I want to be as strong as you are.”

 

To say Pearl was flabbergasted would be an understatement. She opened and closed her mouth several times, unable to get out words. She glanced hopefully at Garnet and Rose, wanting them to take the newcomer’s attention away from her while her mind processed being treated like she was some sort of hero.

 

“Hello there. Can you tell me your name and how you managed to steal a ship?” Rose asked, practically beaming at the pearl. Later she would gush about how the pearl had such good taste in role models.

 

“Coral Pearl,” the pearl replied as she let go of Pearl’s legs but she remained on her knees staring at the pale gem in awe as though she still couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “I just told the Onyx who owned it that my master needed it right away. With my Beryl on another world that Onyx believed me without question.”

 

Pearl could not help but beam at her fellow pearl. Of course the Onyx didn’t question Coral. She had underestimated the gem’s intelligence and gall. Coral had essentially used the Onyx’s perception against her.

 

“That was very impressive,” Pearl remarked. Coral burst into another round of tears, overcome by happiness. Pearl took the gem’s hand and lifted her up. “I would be honored to be your teacher.”

Pearl was nearly knocked backwards by the pearl throwing her arms around her neck and hugging her.

* * *

Coral might have been the first pearl to escape to Earth but she wasn’t the last. Although some came with their masters who freed their pearls upon joining the Crystal Gems, others managed to steal ships through the same method Coral used: pretending they had orders from their masters to take the ships, knowing that by the time anyone figured anything out, they would be on Earth already and as other gems would not want to admit that they were tricked by lowly pearls, they could use this trick repeatedly without fear of being questioned.  

 

All of the pearls seemed to look at Pearl as their hero, a title Pearl was unsure she deserved. They all seemed to admire her so much and yet she couldn’t help but doubt that she was free at least in the same sense they were.  

 

The fact that some gems seemed to view her as Pink Diamond’s Pearl certainly did not help matters.

 

After Bismuth took off for parts unknown, there was a bit of a weapon shortage so Pearl had to give her students her own swords. Unfortunately, the idea of pearls owning anything was a concept some gems had a hard time grasping.

 

“Give that back, that’s mine!” Teal cried, trying to grab the sword from an Amethyst.

 

“Oh come off it, I am doing you a favor. A fragile gem like you has no business near the battlefield. You’d probably be shattered within seconds,” the Amethyst told her, pushing her away dismissively.

 

“Well in that case, let’s see if you can beat me,” Pearl said coldly, furious at the purple’s gem’s rudeness. “I’ve taken down Morganites and Beryls twice your size.”

 

The Amethyst snorted and charged at Pearl who gracefully jumped out of the way, allowing the Amethyst to crash into a tree.

 

“Remember, students, use your surroundings to your advantage,” Pearl declared as she picked up the dropped sword and handed it to Teal. “We might be fragile but we have other strengths such as our speed and grace.”

“You think you are so great,” the Amethyst growled. “But really you aren’t even a Crystal Gem. You just pretend to be free when in reality you still serve your diamond.”

 

“How dare you! The Renegade has spent countless years fighting against the tyranny of Homeworld while you were still serving those monsters,” Coral snarled, pointing her sword menacingly at the Amethyst.

 

“Please. She only joined the Crystal Gems because Pink Diamond told her to. She only does anything because Pink Diamond tells her to do it,” the Amethyst jeered as she got up and walked away.

 

It took Lottie and Teal to hold Coral back from attacking the Amethyst.

 

“That’s not true, is it, Renegade?” Teal asked, glancing at Pearl with a worried expression.

 

“Of course it’s not true,” Coral snapped before Pearl could answer. “How dare you doubt the Renegade!”

 

“It doesn’t matter why she joined the Crystal Gems,” Lottie remarked, giving Pearl a small encouraging smile as if she could sense that Coral’s well intended words were only making her feel like a fraud. “The fact of the matter is she fought against Homeworld and became an inspiration to us all.”

 

Pearl managed to give her students a weak smile, telling them that training was over for the day, deciding she needed some time alone.

 

She wanted to believe that Lottie was right and that it didn’t matter why she had joined the Crystal Gems but she couldn’t help but think about how so many gems saw her as Pink Diamond’s pearl including Bismuth.

 

It had hurt knowing that Bismuth, a gem who had thought she was capable of doing anything, saw her as nothing more than Rose’s lackey even more than it did those who shared her views. Worse, she couldn’t help but wonder if there was a grain of truth in the accusations that she wasn’t truly a rebel.

 

While it was true that she would fight for her freedom, when it came down to it, she was fighting for Rose more than she was fighting for herself. How could she help these pearls who had attached themselves to her, seeing her as their leader? How could she show them that they could think, fight and live for themselves, when she found herself doing everything for Rose even sacrificing her own happiness?

 

In order to be sure that she was truly fighting for the right reasons and to be able to be worthy of her pearls’ admiration, she needed to take a step back from Rose. She would continue to be Rose’s right-hand gem but it was time that she and Rose end their relationship.

 

It would be the hardest conversation she ever had but she had to do it. For her own sake.

 

With that thought in mind, Pearl made her way to the Rose’s room in the newly constructed gem fortress.

 

“Pearl, what are you doing here? I thought you were training the pearls,” Rose remarked, smiling happily at the sight of her lover.

 

“Rose, I don’t think we should continue our relationship,” Pearl blurted out, afraid that she would lose her nerve if she didn’t get right to the point.

 

The conversation that followed was a hard one but it made Pearl feel more sure of herself. She would prove to everyone including herself that she was strong in the real way.

* * *

When Bismuth returned, Pearl wasn’t sure what to expect. After all, they had never gotten the chance to talk after Rose had made the announcement to the other Crystal Gems that she was Pink Diamond. In fact, Bismuth hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye with Garnet and Pearl only learning about her leaving after they brought the zoo back to Earth.

 

After learning from Biggs that Bismuth was finally back, Pearl went to the forge and waited, knowing that the blacksmith would arrive eventually. When she did warp to the forge, the rainbow-haired gem looked taken aback to see Pearl there.

 

“Oh, uh, hey, Pearl, did you bis-miss me?” Bismuth asked with an awkward laugh.

 

Unable to contain herself, Pearl leapt on Bismuth, throwing her arms around her neck, overjoyed that there was no hostility in the gem’s eyes as she wrapped her arms around Pearl. “Of course, I missed you,” she laughed. “I was so afraid you hated me.”

 

“Wait, what? Me hate you? Doll, how could I possibly hate you?” Bismuth inquired, her eyes wide in disbelief.

 

“Because I’m not who you thought I was,” Pearl pointed out, a lump forming in her throat. “Not to mention I lied to you.”  
  
  
“Okay, for the second thing, I’m still blaming Rose for that and not you,” Bismuth said firmly, frowning slightly. Pearl opened her mouth to point out that Rose had never forced her to lie but Bismuth continued before she could. “Furthermore, Pearl, you are exactly who I thought you were: an amazing renegade who doesn’t belong to anyone. I’m so sorry for what I said about you.” 

 

“Don’t be, you’re not the only gem who thinks that,” Pearl muttered with a heavy sigh

 

“Would you mind telling which gems have greatly miscalculated you?” Bismuth growled, her eyes as hard as ice as she clenched her fists. “I would love to set them straight.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary, thank you, I can fight my own battles,” Pearl told her firmly, a smile tugging at her lips.

 

“You shouldn’t have to. You are the Renegade Pearl, you shouldn’t have to prove yourself to anyone,” Bismuth said, placing her hand on the pale gem’s shoulder, causing her to blush blue. “You are amazing all by yourself.”

 

With that last comment, Bismuth closed the gap between them. It was a short and sweet kiss but one that nonetheless had Pearl’s heart pounding.

 

“Thank you,” Pearl whispered.

 

“For the kiss or the compliment?” Bismuth asked with a wry smile on her face.

 

“The compliment but the kiss was pleasant,” Pearl replied, her hands fidgeting as she suddenly felt very anxious to move to another topic. “As glad as I am to catch up with you, I did have an ulterior motive for coming here.”

 

“Weapons for yourself and your pearls,” Bismuth guessed, not at all insulted that Pearl had not just come to see her. “Don’t worry, Doll, I won’t let you down. In fact, I thought just in case you were still mad at me, I better make you an apology gift.”

 

Pearl opened her mouth to tell her that wasn’t necessary, only to snap it shut when Bismuth presented her with twin blades. She might not be mad at Bismuth but she certainly wasn’t going to turn down a present.

 

“I really did miss you,” Pearl murmured.

 

Bismuth just beamed at her.

* * *

Amethyst was a handful. She was loud and energetic to put it kindly. Sometimes she drove Pearl crazy. Other times, she couldn’t help but enjoy her antics.

 

Pearl had missed most of the fight between Amethyst and Jasper, only walking up to the mixed crowd of gems and humans when Jasper had grabbed Amethyst’s whip and was using it to pull the smaller gem towards her. Amethyst didn’t put up much of a fight until she was inches from the orange gem where she suddenly dove downwards, knocking into Jasper with such force it actually caused her to fall backwards onto the ground.

 

“That’s the third time I’ve knocked you down, Buffy, has your ego not taken enough beating?” Amethyst mocked, grinning widely.

 

“Don’t get cocky, runt, I was going easy on you,” Jasper snarled but there was less malice in her tone than there had been when she and Amethyst first met. It seemed that slowly but surely Jasper was warming up to Amethyst.

 

“Oh right. Just like these guys were going easy on Pearl,” Amethyst laughed, jabbing her thumb at the Amethysts and the Jaspers who had made the mistake of assuming they could defeat Pearl.

 

“Isn’t it interesting how so many gems seem to go easy on us?” Pearl remarked coolly, her eyes narrowed as she glanced around at the gems who at least the good grace to look embarrassed if not outright shamefaced.

 

“Well maybe we should fight then as we can be trusted to bring our A game,” Amethyst suggested, smirking.

 

“I accept your challenge,” Pearl said, as she walked past the crowd of spectators until she was half a yard in front of Amethyst.

 

It felt nice for once to just be fighting for fun instead of trying to prove herself to gems who insisted on downgrading her. Amethyst saw her as an equal. Bismuth and Rose were right: she really was----

SPLAT!

 

Pearl was shaken out of her thoughts upon being hit by something brown and wet that splattered on her face and clothes.

 

“AMETHYST!” she screeched as she desperately tried to clean the mud off of herself.

 

 “What? You are always saying to use your surroundings against your opponents,” Amethyst reminded her cheekily as she tossed more mud in Pearl’s direction.

 

“That is not what I---WILL YOU STOP THAT!” Pearl exclaimed as the mud got into her mouth this time.

 

“Come and make me,” Amethyst challenged, running off.

 

Unwilling to let the other gem get away with showering her with mud---she desperately prayed it was mud as she could see no mud puddle in the vicinity---Pearl ran after her, her sword deflecting the mud being thrown by the purple gem who was shapeshifting into various animals.

 

Neither of them seemed to care that their would be spectators had stayed behind. After all they had nothing to prove so why should anyone besides them know how the fight ended? It didn’t really matter who won or lost.

 

Eons later, Pearl would learn from Steven that Amethyst had claimed that they had a huge mud battle and Pearl had cried for mercy because she had gotten so dirty. Pearl was unamused and quickly demanded a rematch requesting that Amethyst not to go easy on her this time.

* * *

Pearl had dreamed of the day when the war would be over and she and Rose could just be together forever, she would imagine just how perfect everything would be. But there were aspects that she had never thought were possible: chief among them was defeating the diamonds themselves with the gem empire now fractured beyond repair allowing the Crystal Gems freedom they never thought was possible.

 

However when Yellow Diamond was defeated and the huge fusion fell apart, Pearl had only seconds to think before she found herself being pulled by Pink Pearl towards the diamonds’ ships.

 

“We need to get Blue and Yellow. They aren’t going to know what to do,” Pink Pearl told her as she practically broke into a sprint causing Pearl to have to pick up her pace in order to keep up.

 

“I’ll take Blue, you take Yellow,” Pearl decided, knowing that Yellow Pearl saw her as nothing but a dirty traitorous rebel and would not listen to a word she said. But Blue might be more understanding.

 

Pink Pearl nodded, hurrying into the Yellow Arm Ship as Pearl went into the blue one. Blue Pearl was crying and hugging her knees to her chest when Pearl found her. She did not acknowledge Pearl even when the pale gem wrapped her arms around her fellow pearl.

 

“Shh, it’s all right. It’s going to be all right,” Pearl whispered soothingly.

 

“But my diamond? What will happen to her?” Blue Pearl sobbed, burying her face in the nap of Pearl’s neck.

 

For a moment Pearl was almost surprised that Blue was more concerned about her diamond than what would happen to her. While it was true that the pearls’ lives orbited around their masters, they also knew if their owner was shattered, they would destroyed along with the rest of that condemned gem’s things.

 

But then again, there was always a deeper bound between diamonds and their pearls (with White Diamond being the lone exception), Yellow Diamond gave her pearl duties and expected other gems to treat her with as much respect as they would show to other high ranking gems of her court. And Blue Diamond often held her Blue Pearl close, treating her as a favored companion and close confident. And while Pink Pearl didn’t have the same closeness to Rose that Pearl had (something Pearl was glad for), she could attest to the friendship she shared with Rose when she had still called herself Pink Diamond.

 

That was why Pink Pearl had been so concerned for their counterparts in the first place. She had known they would be devastated and they might fear for the safety of their diamonds, not caring that they were no longer to be treated as slaves.

 

“I promise you that Rose will not shatter the diamonds,” Pearl whispered firmly. She didn’t even need to ask Rose herself, knowing that despite all that they had done and for all her denials that she missed them, Rose still care for the other three diamonds.

 

“What do I do now?” Blue Pearl asked softly.

 

“Whatever you want to do,” Pearl replied before standing up and extending her hand. “Would you like to come with me?”  
  
  
  
Blue Pearl looked up at her, her tearful eyes glistening behind her bangs. A few seconds passed before she put her hand in Pearl’s, clasping it tightly. Pearl waited for her to stand before she gently led her away from her former diamond’s ship.

 

She was surprised to see that Pink Pearl had already managed to coax Yellow Pearl into coming with her. Judging from the angry look she threw Pearl’s way, it was clear that despite not falling into despair like Blue had, Yellow was far from happy with how things had turned out.

 

“So what now? Do we join your filthy band of rebels?” Yellow Pearl demanded.

 

“Well what would you prefer: joining the Crystal Gems or coming with me and the other pearls?” Pearl inquired.

 

She had not discussed it with Rose yet but she had thought it might be best if the pearls went in search for their own corner of Earth, distance themselves from gems who might assume that pearls were still objects.

 

It would be good for them as well, as she was certain that simply being freed would not completely stop the twisted mindset Homeworld had programed them with and they would need time to become individuals who could think for themselves.

 

“I think we should go with them,” Blue Pearl said, a silent plea in her voice. While she and Yellow were not as close as their diamonds, they still cared for each other deeply as seen by the softening of Yellow Pearl’s expression as she glanced her blue counterpart.

 

“It’s not as if we have much choice,” Yellow Pearl muttered before glaring at Pearl. “Does your diamond even know what she is doing? How will gems be created with only one diamond? How will our society survive with no competent leaders?”

 

“Pink is competent,” Pink Pearl snarled, clenching her fists in an attempt not to punch her fellow pearl. “Just because she’s different---”

 

“If Rose wasn’t competent, she wouldn’t have won the war,” Pearl interjected, her chest puffed up in pride because even when Rose had doubted herself, she had not. “Gems have been thriving on Earth, Yellow, surely even you can see that. Homeworld’s society is over and a new one has just begun to sprout. We are on the edge of something wonderful.” 

  
“Well said,” Garnet remarked as she walked up to the pearls. She ignored the scandalized looks Blue and Yellow were giving her. Pink Pearl, on the other hand, just stared at her in awe, her expression the exact same as the one Rose had the day she met Garnet. “I apologize for interrupting but I need to borrow Pearl for a moment.” 

 

“Oh, all right. Pink, would you mind introducing Yellow and Blue to the others?” Pearl asked. Although it had been in the middle of the battle, Pink Pearl had briefly met Pearl’s students where Pearl had hurriedly introduce them to each other.

 

“Certainly,” Pink Pearl replied, linking her arms with Blue who did the same to Yellow before the three of them walked away.

 

“Yellow Pearl, if you see a reddish orange pearl, I would suggest not insulting Pearl in front of her,” Garnet called after them with a knowing smirk.

 

Pearl could not help grin wolfishly for a moment, thinking of Coral’s likely reaction if Yellow didn’t keep her big mouth closed.

 

“Is everything all right?” Pearl asked Garnet, fearing something might be amiss.  
  
  
“Yes, I just wanted to let you know that Ruby and Sapphire want to take a journey together for a few thousand years. Just as a way for them to get to know each other without being Garnet all the time,” Garnet explained, her smirk now turned into a sweet smile.  “I wanted you and Rose to be the first to know.”

 

“That does sound nice,” Pearl agreed. “I’m thinking of leaving as well. Do you think Rose will be upset that we are both leaving her?”

 

“Of course not,” Garnet said. “We’ll visit and one day we might find reason to stay with her and Amethyst permanently.”

 

Pearl raised an eyebrow, sensing there was something Garnet wasn’t telling her. But she decided not to press her friend for details, choosing to bask in their victory with the rest of the Crystal Gems instead.

* * *

Pearl was standing with the Famethysts---listening as they filled Amethyst in on what she missed during the battle--- when she spotted Bismuth trying to catch her eye and she went over to talk to her.

 

“You know I never thought we would win without shattering Homeworld Gems. I guess Rose proved me wrong,” Bismuth remarked, taking a swing of a human beverage they called ale.

 

“She has a habit of proving gems wrong,” Pearl jested, her eyes twinkling.

 

“You know I don’t agree with Rose about a lot of things but she is right that none of this could have happened if it weren’t for you,” Bismuth stated thoughtfully. “You’re the one who convinced Rose to tell the truth, giving us an edge over Homeworld. Besides I having a feeling I would be in a bubble somewhere hidden away like another one of Rose’s secrets if you hadn’t been there that day.”

 

As much as Pearl would have liked to say that wasn’t true, she knew deep down that it was. However, she refused to dwell on that terrible truth and instead focus on the miracle that had happened.

 

“But you’re not. You are here with me, celebrating the end of Homeworld,” Pearl said, taking Bismuth’s hand in hers.

 

Bismuth grinned at her and leaned forward brushing her mouth again Pearl’s. “Definitely happy about that,” she murmured against Pearl’s lips.

 

“Bismuth, I don’t want to lead you on,” Pearl told her sadly, taking a step back, although she did not let go of the other gem’s hand.

 

“What do you mean?” the rainbow haired gem asked, her brow furrowing in confusion and hurt. “Do you not feel the same way?”

 

“No, I do,” Pearl hastened to assure her, trying to choose her words carefully. “But I also still have feelings for Rose. I know we aren’t together right now but I still love her and I don’t want you to have to ever feel as though you aren’t enough.”

 

“I made you duel swords for a reason, Doll, you have two hands. As long as I’m holding one of your hands, I don’t mind Rose holding the other,” Bismuth declared, squeezing the hand in question. “Look I know Rose and you have a complicated relationship and I don’t want to push you into anything you don’t want to do. But I’m here if you’ll have me.”

 

“Oh you are wonderful,” Pearl gushed, leaning forward to close the gap between them. Unfortunately, they were interrupted by the beeping of their communicators. It was a message from Rose to meet her in the main war tent.

 

“She did that on purpose,” Bismuth grumbled, as the gems of Rose’s council made their way towards the war tent.

 

“Nonsense, Rose has been rooting for us since she first noticed your feelings for me,” Pearl explained, blushing blue as she remembered how embarrassing it was for her when her lover sweetly reminded her that open relationships worked both ways. “Apparently we were flirting without even realizing it.”

 

Bismuth gave her an incredulous look. “Maybe you didn’t know but I did,” she said with a laugh.

 

Pearl said nothing as they joined the other gems, their fingers still intertwined.

* * *

After months of celebrations, it was time for the Crystal Gems to go their separate ways. Some went to space, others found their places on Earth. It would take work to dismantle the Empire and reshape with the Crystal Gems’ ideals but they had all the time in the universe to do so.

 

With Bismuth deciding to tag along with her group, Pearl only had to say goodbye to Rose, Garnet and Amethyst.

 

“Would you stay if I asked you?” Rose wondered as she embraced Pearl.

 

“No,” Pearl admitted after just a fraction of a second of hesitation. “I need to do this, not just for the others but for myself as well.”  
  
  
“I’m glad and so very proud of you,” Rose murmured. “I will always love you, Pearl.”

 

“Good because I would hate to be the only one pinning,” Pearl replied, a tearful smile on her face.

 

Rose kissed her deeply before letting go of her. After saying goodbye to Amethyst, Pearl walked over to her fellow pearls.

 

“Did you just kiss a diamond!” Yellow Pearl hissed, her eyes wide in shock and her jaw seemed to have dropped to the ground.

 

“Actually a diamond kissed her,” Blue Pearl pointed out.

 

“When I said I’m glad someone has been taking care of Pink, I didn’t realize this was how you’d been taking care of her,” Pink Pearl laughed, her eyes dancing mischievously.

* * *

 Pearlutopia (as Amethyst had dubbed it even though it was something of a misnomer) was a beautiful city and Pearl adored every part of it especially the statue that stood at the city’s walls.  

 

“And here I thought you didn’t build anymore,” she teased Bismuth as they stood in front of the statue.  

 

“Technically building a statue is a bit different than building well buildings but come on, how could I not help out something dedicated to you,” Bismuth pointed out.

 

Pearl glanced at up at the giant marble version of herself, holding her spear out towards the outside world as if she were protecting her city from any invader who wished to cause harm to her citizens.

 

She knew that this statue was made as a symbol of how other pearls saw her, their leader and savior. What she didn’t know was she was quickly becoming a folk figure among humans as well.

 

Some people came to Pearltopia to find a grand sword master, believing she could teach them how to be expert swordsmen or women. Others came because their people were enslaved and they had learned from stories passed down from their ancestors that pearls were the gem equivalent of slaves and that out of all gems, they would not tolerate slavers to continue their dirty business.

 

Eventually humans would come to the conclusion that the other members of their species were not property. Something Pearl couldn’t help but think they had figured out faster than Homeworld had.

 

In time, Pearltopia would be one of the most cultured gem cities on Earth and one humans were most likely to visit more than once if they didn't decide to settle down there fore the rest of their lifetime. 

* * *

 

Garnet had told her that one day she would decide to stay with Amethyst and Rose instead of continuing to live in Pearltopia. She hadn’t understood what the maroon gem meant until she met Steven.

 

While she had saved, taught and interacted with humans often, Pearl had never found a bound with them like Yellow and a few other pearls had.

 

Then Rose had placed Steven in her arms and after a few moments of wondering what on Earth she was supposed to do with this baby, Steven gurgled something and put his hand on her nose.

 

She didn’t know why but she was fairly certain that she would do anything for this precious little child.

 

“Hi Steven, I’m Pearl,” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks as she cuddled the baby close.

 

“I bet you ten bucks that she’s gonna smother him,” Amethyst staged-whispered.

 

“I would never do something like that!” Pearl screeched, glaring at Amethyst. “How could you say such a thing!”  
  
  
“Doll, I don’t think she meant it literally,” Bismuth quickly interjected, trying not to laugh.

 

“She just meant you will be overly concerned about his safety,” Greg explained.

 

“I have no idea what you mean,” Pearl said haughtily as she wrapped the blanket Steven was swaddled in more tightly, not wanting him to feel cold despite it being a warm summer day.

* * *

Connie Maheswaran was not Pearl’s first human student but for some reason, she was Pearl’s favorite. Maybe it was simply because Connie was Steven’s friend. Or perhaps it had something to do with despite her young age, Connie was so eager to learn how to sword fight, wanting to fight alongside Steven if any of those gem rebels or monsters tried to attack Earth again.  

 

The enthusiasm of Connie was overwhelming and Pearl was proud to be able to teach her.

 

“Alright, everything begins with your stance,” Pearl began as she guided Connie’s movement as she crossed swords with Holo-Pearl. “Remember you are doing it for your friends, your family and most importantly, yourself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else notice the painfully obvious reference to a certain meme, I apologize for that but I truly did feel like that was the best way to describe the situation. So basically Greg is holding Rose's hand while Pearl holds the other and Bismuth holds Pearl's free hand. Don't judge me.  
> Also sorry Thomas More, but in this story, Amethyst came up with the term utopia.  
> Pearl was the hardest chapter to write because I was struggling with getting her voice correct.


	5. A Fresh Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The war might be over but Rose still has much to do.

As Rose Quartz, now Rose Diamond, sat on the beach with Amethyst as they watched their friends depart to parts unknown, Rose found herself still unable to believe that the war was over and she had—no they had finally won.

 

Despite the heavy and almost impossible odds against them, the Crystal Gems had managed to persevere, winning the day not only for the Earth and the human beings who lived there but for all of gemkind as well.

 

And to think at first, all Rose thought she could do was stop the colonization of Earth. She had never dreamed that their victory would be so great that it would include changing the gem society for the better.

 

Now gems would not have to strive to be perfect, hiding imperfections in fear of being shattered. No longer would gems be held up to impossible standards, looking down upon if they failed to meet them. Gems could be whoever they wanted to be. Crossfusions and so-called Off-Colors would no longer be outlawed.

 

Era 1 and Era 2 had ended. Era 3 would be the era of fresh beginnings and hopefully happier days for all of gemkind.

 

“Rose, are you okay?” Amethyst asked, looking rather worried at the pink gem who had tears in her eyes.

 

“I’m fine, Amethyst, I’m just happy. Today is the first day of the rest of our lives,” Rose whispered, taking Amethyst’ hand in hers and squeezing it. “It’s going to be a fresh start where there is no more Pink Diamond, I will be just Rose.”

 

“Okay, just Rose, how would you like to do to celebrate?” Amethyst asked, grinning at her.

 

“Well first, I would like to make it official that I am no longer Pink Diamond but Rose,” Rose decided. “Instead of simply pretending to be Rose, I want to reform as her.”

 

“Can you do that?” Amethyst asked curiously.

 

“I’ll never know unless I try,” Rose pointed out. A motto that had proven to be true many times since the moment Pearl had suggested changing her form to play with the Amethysts. “All I need to do is poof myself and when I reemerge from my gem, I will be Rose. Won’t that be wonderful?”

 

Amethyst shrugged. “You’re always Rose to me no matter what you look like,” she commented, blushing when Rose beamed at her. The purple gem’s casual words meant the world to Rose, knowing that Amethyst never saw her as anyone other than who she wanted to be. “But how long do you think you’ll be in your gem for? As long as Pearl would be? Because that’s an awful long time for your gem to by lying around where anyone can grab you.”

 

There had been a few incidents when humans would mistake poofed gems as the non-sentient gems they used as jewelry, only to get a nasty surprise when the gems would reform, sometimes when the humans were wearing them.

 

“You’ll be here to guard me, Amethyst, I’m sure I’ll be fine,” Rose told her, ruffling Amethyst’s hair.

 

“Pearl might disagree with you.”

 

“You took her gemstone and put it in a bird’s nest, letting the bird think Pearl was one of her eggs,” Rose recalled, giving Amethyst a knowing look. Pearl had reformed underneath the mama bird much to be both of their shock. Rose could still remember hearing the shrill squawks of surprise---and the bird was freaked out as well. “Despite that incident, I trust you completely, Amethyst. You won’t let anything bad happen to me. I am certain of that.”

 

After spending another hour talking about what they would do after Rose reformed (a joyride in her leg ship was on the top of their list), Rose used her sword to poof herself, fully believing she would reform on that beach with Amethyst curled up beside her, happy as can be. 

* * *

 

When Rose did reform, she found that it was now nighttime, she was in a forest beside a lake beneath a waterfall. Amethyst was indeed curled up by her side; only she was soaking wet, and there were feathers, leaves and twigs tangled up in her hair.

 

“Nothing bad happened at all. I just thought you might like a change of scenery,” Amethyst lied, chuckling weakly, as she crawled onto Rose’s lap, sounding and looking exhausted.

 

Rose smiled fondly and began picking the feathers and twigs out of the purple gem’s hair before using her fingers as a comb. She decided not to ask for the full story because she didn’t want to make Amethyst feel bad for whatever misfortune had happened while she was looking after Rose’s gem. After all the most important thing was that Amethyst had kept her gemstone safe enough that she had reformed without any trouble and her gem seemed no worse for wear.

 

Later when Rose visited a human village, she learnt of a human who had found a diamond on rock only to be chased away by a purple dragon who only stopped chasing him when she realized that the diamond was being stolen by a black bird.

 

Rose pretended not to make a connection, despite desperately wanting to know how the waterfall had fit in with Amethyst’s misadventure. 

* * *

Running a gem empire was not as easy as White, Blue and Yellow made it look. Of course Rose hoped that she wouldn’t be running all of gemkind and instead eventually they would be a more of a democratic society with each type of gems getting their voices heard, all of them equally important.

 

However right now, as the remaining diamond, Rose needed to make sure the empire ran smoothly before she could make any big changes other than making all gems equal and outlawing shattering Off-Colors of course. One of the problems she had to solve was the lack of resources which would severely put a cramp into making gems—never mind finding a way to make gems without damaging the organic life on whatever planet was suitable for gem production. 

 

“In order to keep creating gems we need your essence, Pi---I mean Rose, and considering you are the only diamond left, we will need a lot of your essence,” the head Peridot explained.

 

“And how long will I need to be at the extraction room in order to produce enough essence?” Rose inquired as she glanced at the data the head of the peridots had complied.

 

“By my calculations, it will take a 1.2 thousand years for enough to fill a kindergarten,” the Peridot replied, looking rather sheepish.

  

Rose frowned, chewing her lips thoughtfully. Not only would that take far too long and would probably mean she couldn’t take a break during that time but if she was the only one creating gems, there would be very little individuality between gems and who knew if she could make any new gems.

 

“Is it at all possible for other gems’ essence be extracted and used to create their fellow gems?” Rose wondered. As a bonus, it would show that diamonds were no different than any other gems.

 

“Well that would certainly be unprecedent. However, I don’t think it would be impossible,” the Peridot remarked looking almost gleeful to be starting a new project, one that would be remembered for years. “I will see what I can do. But in the meantime, there is leftover essence from the previous diamonds so we should use that. However I would caution that we ration their essence as much as we possibly can. It may cause some gems to be less powerful but they would essentially be the same gems much like the gems of Era 2.”

 

“I’m sure they will be special in their own way,” Rose declared passionately with stars shining in her eyes.

 

Before the Peridot could say anything else the doors flew open and a Peridot with limb enhancers burst in, looking smug.

 

“I just thought of something brilliant!” she announced, grinning widely. “So you know how Pink Diamond wants to preserve organic life because she fell in love with a mudball or whatever—"

 

“And who are you exactly?” the head Peridot cut her off coldly, her eyes narrowed.

 

The smaller Peridot looked taken aback and rather hurt at her superior’s apparent lack of recognition.  “I’m Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG. You made me leader of the Organic Life project, remember?” she prompted in a rather small voice.

 

“Did I? Well clearly I must have made a mistake if you think it’s appropriate to barge into my lab when I’m having an important meeting and to make matters worse you just insulted Pink Diamond to her face, making me look an incompetent boss in front of her,” the taller Peridot scolded the other green gem, her tone growing harsher with every word she said.

 

“Well I did fall in love with a mudball so she’s not exactly wrong,” Rose pipped up, not wanting the Peridot to get into trouble on her account. She went over to the newcomer, who now was looking at the pink gem in surprise and apprehension, perhaps fearing that she would be punished. Rose realized she must be one of the Era 2 gems who had little knowledge of what was going on Earth. “So you are the new head of the Organic Life project. Have you actually ever seen organic life?”

 

“Not outside of the lab, no,” the Peridot replied meekly, looking down at the floor, her earlier confidence and smugness gone. Whether it is because of her boss’ scolding or because she now realized that the pink gem in front of her is no mere gem and could order her shattering within in seconds, Rose wasn’t sure but it upset her to see such an energetic gem suddenly deflate.

 

Rose knew it would be a long time before gems truly feel safe enough to be who they want to be and for them to feel safe to be able to speak to her freely without fearing dire repercussions. After all, it had barely been a century since the gem war ended; the old ways had not died out yet even though the laws had been changed. However, she couldn’t help but feel slightly frustrated to be looked at like she was one of the other three diamonds. Even before she became Rose and started the rebellion against Homeworld, she had never punished her subjects besides poofing and bubbling them. She was many things but she was no shatterer.

 

“Well then, how can you be expected to appreciate organic life if you have never seen it in it’s natural state?” Rose inquired rhetorically.

 

“That is a very good point. 5XG, your team is to be terminated immediately and I’ll assemble a team of Era 1 Peridots. Considering they don’t need limb enhancers, they will work more efficiently,” the taller Peridot declared, moving over to her desk, already composing a list of suitable gems.

 

Before Rose could tell her that wasn’t what she meant, Peridot spoke up, her tone barely hiding her anger: “My team and I have been working for months to find a solution. We have been proficient with our work even without our limb enhancers. We are making excellent time and progress with this project.”

 

“I acknowledge that Era 2 Gems have their own talents despite the lack of resources gone into making them,” her superior agreed, not looking up from her holographic touchscreen. “However Rose wants results and if she feels that you can’t deliver on them than my hands are tied.”

 

“That is not what I---” Rose began, feeling quite embarrassed that she had caused this misunderstanding and she hoped she could fix it before things started getting out of hand.

 

“Well if this meddling clod bothered to actually read my reports…” Peridot exclaimed angrily. But Rose never got to hear the rest of her rant because her mouth snapped closed and her eyes widened once she realized that she had not only called a diamond a clod but she had done so to her face.

 

“What I was trying to say,” Rose began, choosing to speak while the two Peridots just stood there in stunned silence, their expressions of horror mirrored each other’s expression. “is that in order for Peridot and her team to experience the true beauty of organic life they should have an opportunity to experience it for themselves. Furthermore I would like to reassign the entire team to Earth effective immediately if that is all right by you.”  

 

“Oh, that would be a good idea,” the older Peridot agreed, sounding relived that Rose wasn’t angry at being called clod, something she seemed to think she would be punished for despite not saying it herself.

 

“Perfect. Now that that has been settled, Peridot, where are these reports that this meddling clod should be reading?” Rose inquired innocently, grinning at the flustered Peridot. “Would you please get them for me?”

 

“I’ll get them for you right away,” Peridot replied, looking rather dazed as she scurried away.

 

“Don’t you already read the reports sent by my team leaders?” the head Peridot asked once the lab door closed.  She sounded rather bewildered at how well Rose was taking being called a clod.

 

“Yes but I certainly wouldn’t mind reading hers again,” Rose replied. “I do love it when gems take pride in their work.”

 

Not to mention any gem brave enough to speak out against their leaders was clearly a gem worth knowing.

 

Amethyst was going to love the spunk of this Peridot and Rose already adored her. 

* * *

 

Rose hated irony. She really did. After eons of pretending to fight rebels against the gem empire, she was now actually fighting rebels against her gem empire.

 

While two-thirds of the Homeworld loyal gems had relented to the change of status quo, some had not and they were desperate to return Homeworld to the old ways, diamonds or no diamonds.

 

“Well Buffy, you must be ecstatic,” Amethyst spoke up. “You finally get to beat rebels in Rose’s name without accidentally fighting her.” Despite saying nothing in response, Jasper smirked at that statement and cracked her knuckles, making it clear she agreed with that sentiment wholeheartedly. Rose giggled, patting Amethyst’s head, happy that she had someone with her who could make light of the situation.

 

“They are calling themselves Gems Against Off-Colors and Traitors,” Morganite explained not even acknowledging Amethyst’s words with anything more than annoyed frown. 

 

“Darn, if they switched the A and the O, they’d be totally calling themselves GOAT,” Amethyst complained, disappointed that she couldn’t find an appropriately hilarious acronym to mock these gems.

 

“We have planted a few spies into their organization, it was almost too easy to do so as they are under the belief that most high-ranking gems think as they do and are only going along with what you say because you are the last diamond,” Morganite continued to report, again ignoring Amethyst’s good natured ribbing.

 

“Not exactly far from the truth in some cases,” Lacey remarked, glancing at Goldie and Jasper suspiciously. “If you ask me, we should be keeping an eye on any gems who only joined the Crystal Gems after Rose had revealed herself to be a diamond. Just in case these pretentious snobs try to recruit some spies of their own.”

 

“I didn’t even need future vision to know that if we start treating gems with unfounded suspicion, they are more likely to be swayed to join the Homeworld loyalists,” Garnet pointed out before Jasper could fire back an angry retort.

 

“Besides how exactly are you expecting us to prove our loyalty? Should we kiss Pearl’s feet and carry around her stuff in our gems?” the one-eyed Hessonite asked sarcastically, shooing the agate a nonplussed look.

 

“I don’t think you can actually hold anything but your weapons in your gems,” Pearl replied, looking a bit apprehensive as if she expected Goldie to actually kiss her feet and try to stuff her things in her gem.

 

“We’re getting off topic!” Morganite exclaimed in an irate voice, causing the argument to come to a halt. “My spies have nothing conclusive yet but these gems are building some sort of anti-organic weapon. I’m not sure if they are just planning to make a statement that the old ways are better or---"

 

“So basically they’re just throwing a hissy fit at all the changes Rose is trying to accomplish and destroying organic life is probably their way of saying crack you,” Amethyst stated bluntly.

 

“I think that pretty much sums up their cause. Yes,” Morganite agreed, nodding at Amethyst in approval to everyone’s surprise. “Petty or not, these gems are made up of elite gems from Topazes to Emeralds. Any gem who refuses to join them will be shattered immediately. I would suggest sending a message to all of our gems here and on other worlds to only travel in groups and carry a gem destabilizer until we have at the very least found away to lessen their numbers.”

 

“Obviously we will have to capture them unharmed,” Rose said, pausing to glance around the table, gauging from their reaction whether or not anyone was going to suggest using lethal force to stop these gems who clearly wanted revenge for either their diamonds or for their way of life being changed so drastically. This type of fanaticism was hard to root out and Rose didn’t blame anyone from fearing that if they were not stopped permanently, they would continue to wreak havoc on the peaceful life the Crystal Gems were working so hard to build. “Now, please understand that this is not an order but a suggestion. Perhaps instead of bubbling them we could put them in cells instead and try to reason them. It might take years, it might take centuries but instead of just leaving them to be bubbled for eternality, we could be more diplomatic without letting them escape unpunished.” 

 

“Sounds like it could be risky, Rose, their comrades could free them or even worse use them to spring a trap,” Pearl pointed out.

 

“We can set up precautions to prevent such things from happen. After all, as much as I am loath to admit it, we of all gems would know about those types of tactics because we used them,” Rose remarked. “Look discuss it among your group of gems and take a tally of who thinks it’s a good idea and send me the results. If the majority thinks it’s too risky, we will think of another long-term solution. If that is all, Morganite, I think we are finished for the day and we can meet back here in one cycle.”

 

“I’ll keep sending you reports on that faction, although I might tell my spies to suggest a new name for them,” Morganite said thoughtfully, as she fiddled with her papers, a ghost of a smile on her normally serious face. “It would be nice to turn them into an item of ridicule.”

 

With their meeting done, Rose made sure to say goodbye to each member of the de facto gem council----the real one would have to be bigger so no gem type could claim to be overlooked but for now it was nice to just be to discuss things with gems she personally knew and trusted.

 

“I’m so sorry that we called you away from your Ruby and Sapphire time. And just so you know, Ruby and Sapphire are always welcome to attend,” Rose told Garnet as she hugged the maroon gem.

   
“Don’t worry about it, it’s good to you, Amethyst and Pearl. As much as Ruby and Sapphire would love to attend, Sapphire believes that her future vision would not be as useful as Garnet’s during these meetings,” Garnet explained.

 

“And here I was hoping we’d have no use for these meetings after the war,” Rose muttered with a heavy sigh.

 

“Rose, don’t you start comparing the Crystal Gems to those elitists. Aside from having far more noble goals, we Crystal Gems had an advantage that they do not,” Garnet remarked, smirking knowingly. “Not only did we have a diamond leading us, who got inside information that in hindsight was something only the highest ranking gems of Homeworld would have known but we also had, what is that human word---imagination. These gems are convinced that pearls can’t fight, Off-Colors are weak and useless and their aversion to crossfusion means we won’t be in for any surprises. Their own prejudices will be the reason their rebellion was doomed from the start.”

 

“All I know is Yellow is probably going to think this is my just desserts. I can even see her smug smile,” Rose joked, but her playful words did not hide her nervous undertone and her smile did not meet her eyes.

 

“Not yet,” Garnet stated in a stern albeit soft voice. “Once we’ve made sure they can’t manufacture any world-destroying weapons than you can start trying to change their minds.”

 

There was a part of Rose who wanted to protest and say she didn’t miss Blue, Yellow or White at all and had no intention of letting them out of the bubbles they were in but the knowing look from Garnet stilled her tongue.

 

“Ugh, Carny was right about you getting a swelled head,” Jasper grumbled loudly, causing before Garnet and Rose to glance over at her, Pearl and Amethyst.

 

“So says the ultimate Quartz,” Amethyst mocked as she bear-hugged Jasper. “Don’t forget to call every so often----because Rose misses you, not because I do.”

 

“Yeah well I miss Rose too, runt,” Jasper replied, a found smile appeared on her face but it disappeared once she realized that the remaining gems were watching the scene with the sort of expressions one would have watching two little cubs playing together. She embarrassedly pushed Amethyst away before making a hasty goodbye, disappearing onto the warppad, heading to the landing dock where her ship was waiting.

 

“So uh, should I cancel the ball?” Pearl asked curiously. Although Pearltopia was created to be a place for pearls to be away from other gems just so they could work on subverting the mentality Homeworld had installed in them, Pink Pearl had insisted they have a ball once a year just to be sure none of them felt isolated from other gems or think that in order to be happy, they could only interact with their own kind.

 

“Of course not. Why would you cancel it?” Rose replied, glancing at Pearl in surprise. She wondered if all this talk about the rebels shattering gems who refused to back too the gold ways had spooked her. But Pearl had never showed any fear of being shattered when they were fighting the war against Homeworld, so why would she start now?

 

“Well I just thought under the circumstances, you might want to focus on protecting Earth from the threat of---” Pearl began.

 

“GOAT,” Amethyst interrupted. “I don’t care if it’s wrong. They deserve a silly name for being stupid and petty.”

 

“While I don’t disagree,” Pearl continued, shooting Amethyst a glare when she mimed being shocked that Pearl would agree with her. “you heard what Morganite said: these gems are dangerous and they have a superweapon that could very well mean the end of the world as we know it. Shouldn’t we focus on finding ways to protect Earth from what ever they do to us.”

 

“Morganite would have mentioned if their weapons were ready to be used in the near future,” Rose pointed out. “I think the ball would be good for us. Something fun before we have to get serious.” 

 

“Why? It’s not like they could possibly win,” Amethyst laughed before looking at Garnet, sounding slightly unsure. “We’ll beat them easy, right?”

 

“Not easily but we’ll won’t let them win” Garnet said, her tone filled with conviction. “Ruby and Sapphire will see you at the ball.” With that, the maroon gem got onto the warppad, waving goodbye as she did so.

 

“Try not to worry,” Rose whispered as she entwined her fingers with Pearl’s fingers. “Nothing will ruin what we’ve built.”

 

“I’ve never doubted you before and I won’t start now,” Pearl promised, resting her forehead on Rose’s forehead. “One last fight and we can continue living our happy ending.”

 

“Sounds good to me,” Rose agreed, relishing Pearl’s touch, feeling content and safe.

 

“Ahem. Should I give you guys some space?” Amethyst asked, nonplussed by the fact that Rose and Pearl seemed to have forgotten that she was still there.

 

The two gems separated with sheepish expressions and Pearl made her goodbyes before walking towards the warppad that would take her to Pearltopia.

 

“Come on, Amethyst, why don’t we go see Peridot. I think we can both use some good news?” Rose suggested, trying to take her own advice and not start worrying.

 

After all it was only one small rebel group against an entire gem empire but then again, that’s how the Crystal Gems had started out.

 

Rose shook her head, clearing it of those thoughts. Garnet was right. The Crystal Gems was filled with gems whose optional to be powerful was overlooked because they were difference.

These rebels’ prejudices would be their undoing. And maybe just maybe, there wouldn’t be any more fighting after they defeated the remaining Homeworld loyalists.

 

(And maybe once things had settled down, she could let Blue, Yellow and White reform so they could all be happy together). 

* * *

Pearltopia was a beautiful city tucked away in an oasis deep in the Sahara Desert. Even with so many gems here (with a few humans walking about), the heart of the city did not seem to be crowded but just in case, it was suggested that some gems go up onto the roofs of the buildings where they could not only still hear the beautiful music the Pearls were playing but also admire the amazing view.

 

Loving the view from up there and also spotting Bismuth, Pearl and Pearlie (talking with a few other gems), Rose made her way to the top of one of those buildings, leaving Amethyst to introduce Peridot and a visiting Carnelian to each other.

 

“And just when I think the guy can’t possible get any stupider, he orders me onto the ship, acting as though he can intimidate me all because he has a sword in his pants if you know what I mean,” Bismuth was saying. Her voice managed to be heard to all who were the roof despite the music playing. “Now, I wanted to pound him right then and there but I was like, I know Pearl and her ragtag team of misfits will be showing up soon so why not let the guy take me ‘captive.’ Besides, I didn’t want any of the captives getting hurt by that trigger-happy meatball. So I let him ‘capture’ me and I didn’t even do anything when they put shackles on me which I broke off the minute they weren’t looking. Not even five minutes after knocking the lone guard out and getting the key to free the captive humans, I hear Pearl’s battle cry. So naturally I ran up to meet her. The slaver is of course gobsmacked that I managed to escape my shackles, because obviously someone who has a gem on her stomach and can change her hands into knifes is just an ordinary African woman. Anyway, Pearl and I fuse into Ammolite and then we really give him and his entire crew the bismuth.”

 

“We sent those slavers home with their tails tucked between their legs,” Pearl added, smiling proudly.

 

“What were you doing with those humans anyway, Bismuth? I didn’t think you liked them much,” Biggs commented, an eyebrow raised.

 

Although Bismuth was a proud and loyal Crystal Gem, it had never been about Earth and their occupants with her.

 

“Oh you haven’t heard? Bismuth is the new goddess of war,” Pearl explained, her eyes dancing with mischief as her lover blushed. “Most of the tribes who look for our protection often bring her offerings of precious metal in hopes she will forge them great weapon and armor to help them against their enemies.”

 

“I honestly don’t get the whole fuss with gods and goddesses but hey, it’s nice to have people appreciating my handywork,” Bismuth remarked, puffing out her chest.

 

“Am I not enough?” Pearl asked in mock-outrage, only to giggle when Bismuth picked her up and spun around with her.

 

“You are more than enough,” Bismuth assured her as she put Pearl down so they could dance together. Then white light engulfed them as the pair turned into a rainbow-haired gem with light green skin tone, a pointed nose and four arms.  

 

Rose smiled sweetly as she approached the gem, happy to meet another fusion especially one made of love just like Garnet and Rainbow Quartz. “Well you must be Ammolite. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

 

Ammolite bowed with a flourish.  “It is a pleasure to meet you as well. I must say it is a dream come true for me to be in the presence of a gem with such breathtaking beauty,” she gushed. “Your gem might be a diamond but you are most certainly a lovely rose and smell just as sweet.

 

And here Rose thought it had been her who made Rainbow Quartz such a flirt. But then again had Pearl not swept her off her feet just by being her?

 

“You are too kind,” Rose replied, her eyes shining. “And you are quite lovely yourself.”

 

“My dear Rose, your words make my heart all aflutter. And your voice is as sweet as honey.”  
  
  
“Okay are we sure that Bismuth is in there?” Biggs asked in a stage-whisper.

“Beloved Biggs, forgive me, I know my words seem too flowery but I am filled with love or as the French say, full of Amorlite,” Ammolite exclaimed, throwing her arm around Biggs and grinning at her.

 

“Okay now that sounded like Bismuth,” Biggs declared, laughing when Ammolite rubbed her head with her knuckles.

 

Rose watched Ammolite as she interacted with their friends with a small measure of sadness and jealousy. It had been centuries since she and Pearl fused. A part of her wondered if Pearl would ever want to fuse with her ever again. Was she happier with Bismuth than she had ever been with Rose? Did she tell things to Bismuth, she would never tell Rose?

 

The pink gem shook her head, clearing it of those thoughts. She was being selfish. If Pearl felt more comfortable and secure in her relationship with Bismuth than Rose was nothing but happy for her.

 

Besides it wasn’t as if Pearl had stopped loving her. After all they had been through, falling out of love was not an option for the two of them. They loved each other and always would.

 

Luckily Bismuth understood that and knew that her relationship with Pearl was not diminished by Pearl’s feelings for Rose. She was patient and understanding, willing to do whatever it took to make Pearl happy.

 

Rose could learn a thing or two from her.  

 

“How are you?” Pearlie asked, shaking the pink gem out of her thoughts.

 

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” Rose questioned, wondering if her expression had betrayed her thoughts.

 

“Pearl told me about the Homeworld Loyalists. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay,” Pearlie replied, keeping her voice low so not to disturb the merriment going on around them. “I know we aren’t as close as we used to be but that doesn’t mean you can’t confide in me whenever you want to.”

 

“I’m sorry. I know it must seem like I replaced you---" Rose began.

 

“No, I know you haven’t. It’s just you’ve gone through so much since I’ve been gone and it’s not like we can go back to playing in your room,” Pearlie interjected, looking down at her hands sorrowfully. “I wish I had been there for you. Renegade and I make such a great team, I can only image what it would have been like if we were both renegade pearls, being by your side as you formed the Crystal Gems.”

 

“I wish you had been with us too. Instead you were used to punish me,” Rose remarked, her eyes brimming with tears as she recalled her horror at seeing her only friend be turned into a puppet. “The worst part is I can’t even hate her. No matter what they’ve done to me or to the gems, I can’t hate them.”

 

“And do you realize just how amazing that is. You can’t hate, you just love. You love everyone, no matter what they do. We come from a world where individuality and compassion are seen as flaws. And yet, you still love and you inspire others to love as you do,” Pearlie declared, beaming at her former diamond as she took Rose’s hands in hers. “I remember how you used to be. How much you hated how the other diamonds treated you. How hurt you were when you were punished and scolded. And yet you never stopped loving. It makes me proud to be your friend.”

 

“I think you are exaggerating. As Pink Diamond, I was, to use a human word, a brat,” Rose reminded her with a mirthless laugh. “All I wanted was to be like them: a perfect diamond. I knew how they treated other gems, what happened to those poor creatures who lived on the planets they destroyed. And for all my love, I was so clueless to the suffering of others.”

 

“You know I’ve heard it said that you think humans are remarkable because they can grow and change. Can you really be so blind to realize that you have done just that? You went from someone who just wanted to have fun to a leader who has spent all this time, fighting for the freedom of all those she cares about,” Pearlie remarked. “You aren’t done growing, even I realize that but you have made an excellent start.”

“You always where optimistic,” Rose complimented, hugging Pearlie. “I’m glad you’re here.”

 

“One more thing. If there is a battle to fought, I want in. I barely got any fighting time during the last war,” Pearlie said, grinning widely. “And Pearl’s been giving me lessons so I know I’m ready.”

 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Rose assured her, relieved be the subject change. Despite everything talking about her past even with Pearlie who had known Pink Diamond far longer than she had Rose was still not a subject she liked discussing. “I have a feeling there will be less battles this time around. These rebels are narrow-minded. Although I’m terrified that they will cause many causalities, I doubt they will stand a chance against the Crystal Gems.” 

 

“But when there is a battle?” Pearlie prompted.

 

“I will be sure to tell you so you may participate,” Rose replied, laughing and shaking her head, causing her ringlets to bounce up and down.

 

“Oh my stars!” Ruby exclaimed as she and Sapphire floated down onto the roof. “What have we been missing?”

 

Ammolite stopped dancing with Biggs and Lacey to gasp overdramatically. “By the light of crystals, could it be the blessed couple themselves! Ruby and Sapphire, it is an honor to bask in the presence of such a pure love between two gems,” she proclaimed.

 

“This is the best ball ever!” Ruby exclaimed as Sapphire clapped her hands together in delight.

 

“We’re so sorry, we’re late, we got a little distracted,” Sapphire explained exchanging a smile with Ruby.

 

“Ah now that you’re here, we shall have ammordelight,” Ammolite proclaimed.

* * *

 

A cycle went by after the ball and the small group of gems returned to the meeting place to discuss the Homeworld loyalist threat.

 

“The Homeworld Loyalist attacked Sector 9 as it is populated by mostly zircons and zultanites and they thought they could take it for themselves. Fortunately, the majority of them have learned how to fight and successfully held them off until reinforcements arrived. We managed to capture the entire battalion and their gems have been bubbled until we can find out what to do with them,” Jasper reported, her expression almost dreamy as she recalled how she had pounded a Topaz until she poofed. Her relish for battle had not diminished. Rose briefly wondered what she was going to do when the fighting was officially done.

 

“While I am aware that the votes have been tallied and it has been agreed that we will try rehabilitating rebellious gems while keeping them imprisoned, I would cation against letting them free right away. After all, I have no doubt they will try to trick gems into thinking they have changed when in reality, they are hoping to escape and break out their allies,” Goldie pointed out.

  
“I have good news from my spies. It seems that the Homeworld Loyalists have limited resources to build weapons and because the only place they have besides their ships is the catacombs of Homeworld where they are building their greatest weapon. I would suggest making a sneak attack on the catacombs, not only clearing them off Homeworld but also getting our hands on the weapon they are building,” Morganite said firmly.

 

 “I have a different idea. Why don’t we destroy Homeworld itself?” Rose suggested, causing everyone to stare at her as if she had grown a second head. “We can do the sneak attack but that won’t be enough as they will keep going back to a place where the Crystal Gems are more likely to avoid. Not only that Homeworld is a symbol of eons of oppression and pain.”

 

“You’re saying you want to destroy our planet,” Goldie repeated, her eyes wide.

 

“Homeworld is a lifeless husk that has nothing but bad memories of the old ways. Don’t you want a fresh start?” Rose asked passionately. 

 

“It would not only demoralize the Homeworld Loyalists but they cannot build weapons with their ships and will have to rely on limited supplies to continue their fight against us,” Morganite agreed logically.

 

“Not to mention, Rose has a point. Homeworld is a symbol of the way things were which we are trying to change,” Lacey stated. “Destroying it would send a clear message that the Empire is no longer a slave to Homeworld’s ideals.”

 

“And is there nothing in Homeworld worth preserving?” Goldie asked, her voice surprisingly soft.  

 

“Whatever you want to save, you will have time to take it with you,” Rose answered, thinking of the gems that decorated the walls of the diamond’ palaces. After the war was over, she had asked a few Bismuths how to remove them and return them to their natural state if they even had them. She would make sure they were evacuated from Homeworld along with whatever else was sentient and used as an object. “Although I would like to have every gem vote on this, we cannot afford this to be leaked out to the rebels least they try to speed up production on that weapon of theirs. However I know that this is not a decision to be taken lightly so I ask that you vote now whether or not to destroy Homeworld.”

 

The council was only made up of twenty gems and Rose felt guilty that she was breaking her promise to listen to every gem’s voice. She swore that she would get started on the gem council she had been envisioning for a long time now so there would never be a time where a big decision such as this was decided without everyone getting a chance to talk about it.

 

They went around the table, starting from Garnet, casting their votes. In the end seventeen had agreed that Homeworld was to be destroyed.

 

“Homeworld was awful but it was still my home,” Goldie said softly before swallowing and straightening in her seat “Despite this, I will help this endeavor in any way I can.”

 

“It’s not easy for me either,” Rose admitted. “But I think it will be better this way.”

* * *

 

In order to keep the rebels from suspecting anything, the evacuation of whatever they wanted to preserve from Homeworld had to be done slowly and discreetly. They also had to swear the Peridots making the bombs powerful enough to destroy an entire planet to secrecy.

 

It took another century but eventually the Crystal Gem army was ready for their attack on the Homeworld Loyalists who kept themselves hidden in the catacombs of Homeworld.

 

As the gems moved into the catacombs to capture the rebels, they made sure to also line the walls with the bombs that would not go off until Rose pressed the trigger.

 

Although Rose would have loved to join her fellow gems in the battle below, she had two things to take care of. First she made sure to a bomb in the Tower she had been often locked up in and second she went to White’s ship, planning on taking it back to Earth where the arm ships of Blue and Yellow were.

 

As it was White Diamond’s ship, Rose could not fly it. However she could attach it to her legs ship and use it to carry the ship back to Earth. Using metal hooks attached to the head ship’s eyes, Rose managed to lift it up and maneuverer her legs ship underneath it. By the time she was finished so was the battle.

 

“Alright, have we gotten everyone out?” Rose asked, using her ship’s communicator to contact the others.

 

“Our scouts are double-checking to see if we missed any of the rebels or if some of them are hiding somewhere in the catacombs. But thanks to the list Pearl made, we have done a head count and aside from the scouts, everyone is off of Homeworld,” Jasper answered.

 

Hours later, the scouts confirmed that all gems had been evacuated and they were brought onto the ships that surrounded Homeworld.

 

“I can see no gems anywhere on Homeworld and everyone is clear of the blast zone,” Garnet reported as she unfused so Ruby and Sapphire could see the destruction of Homeworld.

 

“Alright then, I guess it’s time,” Rose announced softly, her throat feeling very dry. She refused to closed her eyes as she pressed the button which triggered all the bombs they had put everywhere on Homeworld including on the half-finished anti-organic weapon the rebels were building.

 

She had pictured a great explosion with Homeworld being destroyed almost instantly. Instead with every boom, Homeworld began to crumble like clump of dirt falling apart, the remains scattering everywhere.

  

“I didn’t think it would be this hard,” Rose said after muting the sound on the communicator, only letting her closest friends hear her.

 

“Neither did we,” Sapphire agreed. Ruby nodded as she held Sapphire’s hand.

 

“I did,” Pearl spoke up before blushing blue at the perplexed looks she was getting. “I just thought I should point that that.”

 

“Maybe not now,” Pearlie suggested, patting Pearl’s shoulder.

 

“Come on guys, Earth is your home now. Right? So why bother getting emotional about a place filled with oppression and no fun?” Amethyst asked, rather bluntly.

 

“Because despite everything, Homeworld was still our home at one point and we can’t help but feel sad now that it’s gone. However the moment will pass and we will continue working towards a better future,” Rose declared, her eyes shining as she smiled sadly.

* * *

 

The gems were not the only ones who were advancing their society, humans were too. Their technology was not quite on par with the gems but they still making great leaps forward.

 

After many centuries, the Empire finally had a gem council, filled with five representatives of each gem type. As a diamond, Rose was the only one without four others at her table but she still contributed.

 

It was decided that she would be the deciding vote in case of a tie and she could veto any law she deemed as unacceptable (not that she ever used that particular power).

 

The gem council met once every decade for three cycles to debate on issues and ideas of how to make their society better.

 

“A long time ago during the second gem war, I suggested we use humans to help us combat Homeworld gems as gem weapons like destabilizers had no effect on them,” Mossy Agate began. “Now that humans are becoming more advanced and the remaining rebels seem to be catching on to our tactics and are seeking new ways to defeat us, perhaps we should set up a program that will allow us to train humans so they can fight with us whether it is on space or on Earth.”

 

“While weapons like destabilizers and shattering robonoids can’t hurt humans, axes and swords can. In fact you could throw a human against a rock wall and they could die,” an Amethyst pointed out. “I think they would be too much of a liability.” 

 

“With all due respect, you could throw a gem against a rock wall and while they might not shatter, their gem could become damaged enough that they would be incapacitated,” a Ruby with a visor pointed out. “Humans might be less durable than gems but if they are willing to put their lives at risk than who are we to stop them?”

  

“And if I might point out, that if you are willing to let hybrids fight by your side, there should not be a reason why you can’t let fully human humans do the same,” Anna pointed out. Her mother had been a sapphire and she had taken her mother’s place on the council once she was old enough to understand the politics of gemkind.

 

“Especially if they are willing to lay down their lives for us,” Pearlie agreed. “As long as they know the risks of fighting gems, I think this program would be a good idea.”

 

The debate continued for a while but it was ultimately agreed that this program would be started. However it would be a five year process to make sure that the humans were fully prepared for the dangers they faced.

 

“For our next topic, we should discuss the Peridots’ progress with the Organic Life project,” Rose announced giving Peridot a friendly smile as she made her way to the podium in front of the auditorium. She was not using her limb enhancers, having been convinced by Amethyst that she was awesome without them.

 

“We have already created a kindergarten in Sector 10 as the planets there have organic creatures that can be placed in a different world without too much fuss. Our experiments have worked well but this kindergarten will be all the proof we need that we are capable of makings gems without destroying the planets,” Peridot explained. “As for the second part of our project. We have designed away to make synthetic gems for hybrids that will substitute for the gems their mother has. However there is still the matter of whether or not the child can live with the gem.” 

 

“I don’t understand. If everything is going good, why do we need to discuss it?” Goldie asked, looking rather bemused.

 

“Because I think it might be time to unbubble the diamonds,” Rose answered, knowing exactly what was coming.

 

At once the council was up in arms, terrified that Rose lost her mind, believing that the minute Yellow, White and Blue were free, they would force the gems back into the old ways.

 

“SHUT UP!” Jasper roared, somehow managing to be heard over all of the furious whispering. Silence fell over the crowd. “Let Rose finish.”

  

“Thank you, Jasper. I can assure you that even though I want to unbubble them, I will not allow the diamonds roam free. They will be kept in cells, designed to counter their individual powers,” Rose explained. “Just like I do with ever other gem, I will try to change their minds. I understand why you are apprehensive and I promise you that I will take every precaution to ensure they never hurt anyone ever again. I’m not asking you to vote on whether or not this should happen. I’m asking for you to give me a chance to try and convince them that their ways are not only bad but also no longer needed.”

 

“Let’s not forget that Blue Diamond tried to save Rose not once but twice during the last war,” Pearlie pointed out, even though only Rose had Pearl had actually seen her try to intervene when White Diamond attack them.

 

“And if Rose can convince Blue Diamond to listen to her than maybe in turn Blue Diamond could help convince White Diamond and Yellow Diamond,” Biggs pointed out, having full faith that her leader could convince Blue if not Yellow and White.

 

“But they are diamonds,” Rhodonite reminded everyone, her four hands clutched together fearfully.

 

“So was Rose,” Pearl pointed out with a proud smile. “And look how she turned out.”

 

The debate took several weeks (with them having to take breaks for the human hybrids to eat and sleep) but eventually it was decided to give Rose a chance to talk to the diamonds. 

* * *

 

When Rose had found an empty concert, heard a lone guitarist singing about comets, she had no idea what she was in for.

 

Greg Universe was not like any human she had ever met before. He loved her unconditionally but at the same time, he would not be treated as anything but her equal. He told her that she didn’t need to tell him about her past if she didn’t want to but Rose had told him anyway, wanting to let him know what he was getting into.

 

“So you’re a princess or I guess if you run an empire than technically you’d be an empress,” Greg remarked.

 

“What’s the difference?” Rose asked curiously.

 

“Nothing much. Empresses are more powerful than queens and queens are more powerful than princesses,” Greg explained before laughing a little. “Although you’re technically an empress, I’ve got to say you’ve got a lot of movie princess qualities. From your animal friends to your need to be free and to shape your own destiny. Not to mention the fact that you like to randomly burst out in song. It’s like you came straight out of a fairytale. All you needed was a dashing prince who rescued you from your ivory tower and showed you the world you had been kept away from.”

 

“I think Pearl was more like a knight,” Rose remarked, realizing that while Pearl hadn’t rescued her from the actual tower she was often thrown into, Pearl had given her a way to leave the moon base and then taken her to see the sights of Earth.

 

“Yep, definitely a fairytale,” Greg said cheerfully.

 

“I guess so,” Rose giggled. 

 

“Well since you were honest with me, I should be honest with you,” Greg decided with a serious face as if he was about to reveal a secret as big as hers. “My last name isn’t actually Universe. It’s DeMayo.”

* * *

 

Three cells as large as trees stood in her landfill, honestly making her spot in the dessert look even more bizarre. Well not as bizarre as the giant robot that had a white torso, blue and yellow arms with pink legs but still if any humans came by, they would probably think they were hallucinating.

 

“Uh, do I look okay? Do you think this sweater makes me look silly?” Greg asked, as he straightened his cherry sweater. “How’s my hair?”

 

“You look fine, Greg,” Rose told him, finding his anxious behavior rather adorable.

 

“It’s just I want them to like me. Should I have brought something? Like flowers. I should have brought them flowers!” Greg fretted.

 

“I don’t know the diamonds that well but I don’t think they like flowers or really anything organic so they probably wouldn’t like you anyway,” Peridot spoke up from the control panel.

 

“Burn!” Amethyst exclaimed, raising her hand for Peridot to slap.

 

“What’s burning?” Peridot asked bewildered, looking around to see what Amethyst meant by that. Amethyst just groaned and put her hand down.

 

“Don’t worry, Greg, they will like you. Not as much as I do but they will like you, I promise,” Rose assured him, kissing him deeply before turning to the three gems in the cells. White and Yellow had not been unbubbled just as precaution that their system failed to stop the diamonds’ powers from working. They would know instantly if it didn’t work once Blue reformed.

 

An hour passed before Blue Diamond reformed. She looked around desperately, her eyes wide. But once she saw Rose, she relaxed and tears flowed down her cheeks.

 

“Pink,” she breathed, reaching out towards the barrier that separated them, only for her hand to snap back once she was stung by the gem destabilizer barrier.

“My name is Rose,” Rose told her with a sigh. This was not the best of starts.

  
“Considering we are not all weeping messes and Blue Diamond can’t touch the barrier without getting hurt, I would say the cells work perfecting. With your permission, Rose, I will unbubble Yellow Diamond and White Diamond,” Peridot spoke up, keeping her eyes on the control panel.

 

Rose nodded and Peridot pushed some buttons, allowing what look like the ends of the kindergarten extractors to come out of a panel in White and Yellow’s cells, popping the bubbles that held their gems.

 

Blue looked from Rose to Peridot to Rose again. She was probably about to scold Rose for allowing an “inferior” gem speak to her so casually.

 

“You didn’t shatter White,” Blue said incredulously and Rose couldn’t help but feel annoyed at Blue’s surprise. How little did she know her?

 

“No. I don’t shatter gems. I’m not you,” Rose snarled, scowling. She looked away from Blue, trying to stamp down this rage she felt.

 

Stars, what was she thinking? They would always be the same. They would never change their views on gemkind or her. She should tell Peridot to rebubble White and Yellow’s gems immediately.

 

“Pink…” Blue began, her voice gentle.

 

“MY NAME IS ROSE!” Rose shouted.

 

“Hey, hey, easy, Rose, easy,” Greg whispered, grabbing her hands and pulling her into his embrace. “Don’t let her get to you. She doesn’t understand and yelling at her won’t help her understand any faster.”

 

“And who is this?” Blue asked, an eyebrow raised. She studied Greg with a curious expression. It was clear that she could guess this human had some sort of intimate relationship to Rose.

 

“I’m Greg Universe, Mrs. Diamond, Ma’am,” Greg introduced himself, bowing awkwardly, clearly sticking to the idea that the diamonds were royalty.

 

“He’s my Yellow,” Rose explained at the same time.

 

Blue blinked once and then twice before covering her mouth with her hand, a faint blush on her cheeks.

 

Despite the situation, Rose couldn’t help but smirk. She had suspected for a long time that Blue and Yellow were, ahem, together and Blue’s flustered expression confirmed her thoughts.

 

“Blue! Pink!” Yellow shouted, having just reformed and was now banging on her cell, trying to get out with brute force. “Why won’t my powers work? Let me out of here this instance! Blue, where are you!”

 

“Oh for the love of me, Sunlight, calm yourself. I just reformed and I am not liking the fact that my entire cell is shaking because you have lost control of your emotions!” White grumbled, sounding almost bored.

 

“White? But I thought Pink shattered you?” Yellow exclaimed bewildered, having stopped hitting the walls of her cell.

 

“She prefers to be called Rose,” Blue cut in, shooting Rose a loving look.

 

“You didn’t shatter us,” Yellow repeated, staring at Rose in shock. “You allowed us to form again? Why would you do that?”

 

“We have a lot to discuss,” Rose began, hope returning to her heart. Blue had called her by the right name, Yellow seemed more perplexed than angry and White… “But first, White, I have a question for you. Why did you let us win?”

  
It wasn’t until after she and her pearls had returned from Homeworld, did Rose really think about the fight with White. She remembered Rainbow Quartz’s slamming her sword to White’s gem but instead of trying to stop them, White Diamond had let it happen, saying one last thing before she was poofed.

 

“Isn’t it obvious, Starlight?” White asked rhetorically, a delicate eyebrow raised. “I couldn’t use my eyebeams on you. Punishing you was obviously not going to work. So my only other option was to shatter you. And that, Starlight, is something I would never be able to do.” She laughed mirthlessly. “It’s so strange. I am supposed to be perfect, I do everything right. I should not have a weakness or flaw that would prevent me from ending this whole debacle once and for all. But as it turned out, I had a weakness: you.”

 

Rose stared at White Diamond with an open mouth which she quickly shut before turning to Greg, Amethyst and Peridot. “Would you three mind giving us some time alone?”

 

The two gems and Greg nodded, saying their goodbyes before they warped back to the temple where Garnet and Pearl were waiting.

 

“So what exactly has changed since we’ve been gone? I suppose you’ve been have a worse resource shortage then we did,” Yellow guessed, perhaps thinking this was the reason Rose had decided to let them reform.

 

“Actually no. You see we found a way to use other gems’ essences and we found a way to create gems without destroying planets,” Rose informed her, a part of her, the Pink Diamond part, couldn’t help but feel smug by the taken aback look on Yellow’s face. “Our society is stronger than ever. And while I’m technically still in charge of the Empire, I have a council of gems to discuss every issue, allowing new idea to make us even better.”

 

“Oh Pi---Rose, I always knew you would make a wonderful leader. I am so proud you,” Blue gushed, crying again but this time in happiness.

 

“You are,” Rose repeated, unable to suppress the surprise and pleasure she felt at that statement.

 

“Of course we are, Starlight,” White said, taking full advantage of the fact that despite insisting she was not Pink, Rose had never said she didn’t want to be called Starlight. “We might not approve of your methods but depending on how long we’ve been gone, the fact that you have been managing to not only run my---your empire smoothly and have managed to find a way to make gems the way you want to is not an easy feat.”

 

“And while I agree with those sentiments, I would still like to know why we are here if we are irrelevant,” Yellow pointed out logically but not even she could suppress the smile on her face.

 

“Isn’t it obvious?” Rose asked in her best impression of White’s voice. “Despite everything, you’ve done, despite everything you’ve put everyone through. I missed you and I want you to be here.”

 

“You always were a sentimental fool,” White laughed---and it was a genuine laugh not a cruel one.

 

“This from the diamond who just flat out admitted that Pink---I mean Rose--- was her weakness,” Yellow scoffed, causing Blue to giggle.

  

Rose smiled, hope swelling her heart. Maybe, just maybe everything was going okay and she could have a fresh start with the diamonds included.

 

And maybe just maybe, both she and her unborn child could both experience it. 

* * *

 

“Walk me through this again,” Greg said as he held Rose’s hand.

 

“Ugh, really? Okay, basically when your son or daughter is ready to be born we will poof Rose, allowing us to put the synthetic gem fused with Rose’s life giving powers into the baby’s navel,” Peridot explained, sounding frustrated that she had to explain this several times over the past nine months was becoming grating on her nerves. The fact that if anything went wrong, she’d probably be blamed for it wasn’t helping her demeanor. “It’s not that hard to understand.”

 

“And we are sure this will not hurt either Rose or our child?” Greg asked worriedly.

 

“Well considering this is the first time anything like this has been done, I don’t know. I mean you could ask Garnet for the odds…” Peridot began.

 

“No! Being told the odds is never a good thing!” Greg exclaimed before swallowing and squeezing Rose’s hand. “Sorry, I lost my cool a bit. I’m just a little stressed out.”

 

“It’s okay. I think everyone is a little tense and we all just need to calm down,” Rose said sweetly, returning the favor and squeezing Greg’s hand. Garnet had to take Amethyst for a walk to calm them both down and according to Pearlie, Bismuth was doing all she could to distract Pearl who was a nervous wreck. How the diamonds were holding up, Rose didn’t know but she doubted they were handling it well. “As far as timing goes, we might have been a bit hasty with whole having a baby thing.”

 

“I blame the Universe charm. I’m the one who did this to you,” Greg muttered, stroking her belly.

 

“Well the way it happened wasn’t so terrible,” Rose teased, smiling despite the seriousness of the moments.

 

“I think I liked it better when I didn’t know what you two were talking about. I shouldn’t have asked Amethyst,” Peridot muttered as she checked the scanners. “Okay, it looks like the little Steven or Nora is ready to be born. It’s time.”

* * *

 

 When Rose reformed, she was pleased to hear a baby gurgling and even more happy to see Greg standing in the room with a swaddled infant in his arms, looking delighted.

 

“Look Steven, Mommy’s back now,” Greg whispered as he brought the baby over to Rose.

 

“Steven,” Rose breathed as Greg put their son in her arms. His smile alone made her want to melt. “Oh look at him, Greg, isn’t he the sweetest little thing, you’ve ever seen?”

 

“He certainly is. And apparently his gem isn’t the only thing he got from you,” Greg told her as he moved the blanket down a little bit so Rose could see the small bit of hair on his head. Pink hair. “I think it makes him look rather distinguished, don’t you?”

 

“Well he is a prince,” Rose joked, smiling lovingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10,000 words. So long but extremely worth it.  
> Also the synthetic gem fused with Rose's life giving powers was an old theory I had back when I thought if Steven's gem was taken out Rose would reform and all those Rose Quartz gems were fakes.


End file.
